His first thought was a dragon, but he then quickly discarded that idea.
Dragons were too long and slender, making them impressive in appearance, but impractical in practice. If the middle section were to be struck by an asteroid, there was a very good chance that the spacecraft would snap in half.
With a flick of his wrist, his beaded bracelet fell into his grasp, and he gently massaged it as he murmured to himself with a contemplative expression. “Let’s think about why Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa decided to design their spacecraft in the form of a hermit crab. I shouldn’t be thinking about the needs of the floating fortress. Instead, I should be thinking about this from a biological point of view.”
The recliner chair was very comfortable, and the padding on the chair was extremely soft, but this wasn’t the time to be relaxing. His mind was racing rapidly as he sat up from the chair, then placed his elbows onto his legs and supported his chin with his hands as he fell into deep thought.
“Hermit crabs are known for their hardness and defensive capabilities.”
He continued to massage his bracelet as he murmured to himself, “Their shells are extremely resolute, and they can spread force over the entirety of their structure. This is not for the purpose of storage. Instead, it’s designed to withstand all of the disasters present in space, such as shooting stars, asteroids, and perhaps even attacks from extraterrestrial civilizations. In the face of these threats, Omeyocan can withdraw into its shell and forcibly barge its way through asteroid belts. On top of that, if an accident occurs and Omeyocan is forced to make an emergency landing, thereby taking it into a plane’s gravisphere, then the shell will be able to protect the control hub from being damaged.”
Once he discovered the right angle to approach the problem, everything became clear to him.
He was trying to figure out the thought process of the new continent’s Yin rune experts and mechanical engineers that were involved in the construction of Omeyocan.
This was a very important step. It was the method used by the only pioneers of the space exploration industry in the underworld, and it could perhaps be applied to the Cathayan Underworld’s own space fortress!
His mind then wandered back to the previous question that he was considering: what form was the Cathayan Underworld’s space fortress going to be constructed in?
All types of creatures flashed through his mind, including the Phoenix, the Harken, the Zhuyan Ape, the Aurogon… Each of them had their own advantages, but once again, they were all rejected one by one.
“The advantage of these mythical creations doesn’t come from the creations themselves. Instead, it comes from the power that they contain, but flying fortresses are unable to make use of this power. However…”
He rose to his feet as he took a deep breath, and his mind was racing as he continued his analysis. “We can choose from Yin beasts that inhabit the harshest of environments! There are countless different types of environments in the underworld, and the Yin beasts that have evolved to adapt to these environments have already been proven by the process of natural selection to be superior to their extinct peers! We could even specifically observe the internal makeup of insects and other flying Yin beasts!”
If it weren’t for the fact that he was stuck here, he would immediately summon his panel of advisors for a meeting to discuss this concept.
He took several deep breaths in succession to calm himself down, then closed his eyes as he murmured to himself, “Don’t rush… There’s still a lot of time, so there’s no need to rush.”
There were too many things that he still had to do on the new continent, including claiming the Plumed Serpent God’s treasure vault and visiting the place that the second King Yanluo had asked him to. The path to space exploration was a long one, and excessive zeal and ambition could result in major setbacks.
With that in mind, he gradually calmed down, and time slowly passed by. After about three hours, the sound of door-knocking finally rang out.
“Yanluo Qin.” Secret appeared at the entrance, and he was still wearing the exact same attire as before. “The supercritical tide will commence in an hour, and Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa would like to invite you to see it with them on the Heavenly Platform.”
Qin Ye naturally wasn’t going to refuse such a brilliant opportunity.
Thus, he followed Secret back to the Heavenly Platform, where he couldn’t help but marvel at the gigantic body of the fifth sun god once again. He then stepped onto the teleportation array, and soon, he arrived in front of the eyeball once again.
However, Secret hadn’t accompanied him on this occasion, so he had arrived on his own.
Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were already waiting for him, dressed in the most lavish ceremonial attire of the Aztec religion.
Even by the standards of the present-day, the Aztecs led extremely extravagant lifestyles, mainly due to the fact that gold was available in vast abundance in this civilization. The golden accessories worn by wealthy tycoons in the mortal realm were an extremely common sight even in the middle-class society of the Aztec civilization, let alone the highest echelon of the Aztec civilization that Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa belonged to.
Their golden crowns were crafted to the highest degree of quality and detail, and the serpent god accessories in front of their foreheads were so life-like that it was as if they could spring forward at any moment. The golden strands attached to Mictetikasiwa’s earrings were virtually as thin as strands of hair, and they had been intertwined into the form of sunbirds. Even in the most high-end jewelry stores, Qin Ye had never seen any accessories as intricately crafted and as beautiful as these.
“Welcome, Yanluo Qin,” Mictlantecutli greeted with a smile as he extended a slight bow. “There is still half an hour until the supercritical tide begins, and from here, we’ll be able to see it in its purest form. The telescope has already been adjusted to the most suitable viewing angle, so everything is ready.”
A table and three chairs had already been prepared, and the table was laden with all types of delicacies. The three death gods sat down onto the chairs, and Qin Ye was seated at the center, looking up at the Eye of the Stars with an awe-struck expression.
The eye was different from the last time he had seen it. On this occasion, all of the golden circles around the pupil had already completely spread out, forming a series of even larger independent circles.
Countless golden Yin runes were dancing on the circles, and it was as if only now was the eye working at full capacity. Within the pupil at the center was an image of the vast and boundless space.
However, the space wasn’t whole. Instead, there was a bright red rift running along it. The rift wasn’t very large, and it was also quite faint, but it resembled a fresh wound on the pitch-black sky.
One cloud of nebulae after another slowly seeped out from the rift like mist, and it was as if the sky was bleeding. Before Qin Ye had a chance to ask about it, Mictlantecutli said with a grim expression, “You must be wondering what that red line is, right? We have also been trying to find out the answer to that question. We named it the ‘Scar of the Sun’, and it’s been there since the first time we looked into space.”
He paused momentarily before continuing, “When the supercritical tide begins, you’ll be able to see some unique astronomical phenomena here, and it’s exactly because of that thing that we decided to create Omeyocan.”
Qin Ye’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. Mictlantecutli wasn’t making a big deal out of this, but the implications behind his words were quite serious.
Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were advanced Yama-Kings. If Zhao Yun didn’t exist, then they would be ranked along the ruler death gods of the three pillars as the most powerful beings of the underworld.
What could’ve possibly made them so wary that they exhausted the wealth of their entire nation to construct this enormous flying city?
Right at this moment, a thought suddenly flashed through Qin Ye’s mind, and he turned to Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa with a meaningful gaze.
Even if there were some unforeseeable hazards in space, surely constructing Omeyocan was overkill.
It would have to take at least tens of thousands of Yin spirits to operate this gigantic flying city, which meant that they were intending to take tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of Yin spirits into space with them!
Was that all just so that they could continue to have citizens that they could rule over? No, the truth most likely wasn’t as simple as that.
My earlier theory seems to have been too simple. Why was Omeyocan constructed in the form of a hermit crab, and why was its shell constructed to be the same as Chichenhagen? That shell is perhaps where all of the netherworldly citizens are going to live. That makes sense. After all, even if they really do discover extraterrestrial civilizations, it would take more than just the two of them to spread their religion, and that is most likely why they’ve decided to take so many netherworldly citizens with them. However…
He glanced at the two ruler death gods out of the corners of his eyes, and his thoughts were becoming clearer and clearer.
It was clear that deep thought had gone into the decision to construct Omeyocan in the form of a hermit crab, and another thought had just occurred to Qin Ye. Hermit crabs could survive even after shedding their shells!
The shells that they occupied once belonged to different shellfish, which they consumed before taking their shells. After shedding their shell, their Achilles heel would be revealed in the form of their soft and vulnerable backs, and that was a weakness that was impossible for them to defend!
However, if there were no predators that fed on hermit crabs, then they would be able to survive even without shells!
With that in mind, it would be safe to assume that the pyramid on the back of Omeyocan was its shell, and that Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were prepared to discard the shell and flee on their own if a sufficiently dire situation were to befall them!
He closed his eyes and carefully recalled the appearance of Omeyocan. Several seconds later, he nodded in confirmation to himself. The “crab” that was the main body of Omeyocan was only less than 200 square kilometers in area, which essentially confirmed his theory.
He didn’t think this was cruel or heartless, it was an understandable decision.
If he had been in the shoes of the two ruler death gods and also chosen to construct his space fortress in the form of a hermit crab, he would’ve done the same thing.
The only thing astonishing to him was how incredibly genius the thought process that went into creating Omeyocan was. The hermit crab’s habits, characteristics, and advantages had all been maximized in this design!
This was going to be a path that the Cathayan Underworld also had to take in the future in the construction and design of its flying fortress.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward the dark sky depicted within the eye of the sun god, as well as that red rift.
What could’ve possibly convinced Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa that it was not only necessary to create a flying fortress with such immense defensive prowess, but also to prepare an escape mechanism in addition to that?
The two of them were among the most powerful death gods in the underworlds, and Omeyocan was an almighty fortress that could hold hundreds of thousands of people! What could’ve possibly made them so wary and concerned?
Was this the price that had to be paid for space exploration?
“Yanluo Qin?” Right at this moment, Mictlantecutli’s voice rang out beside Qin Ye’s ears, snapping him out of his reverie.
A faint smile appeared on his face as he said, “My apologies, I got lost in my own thoughts there.”
Mictlantecutli also smiled as he said, “There is only one minute left until the commencement of the supercritical tide.”
Have I already been thinking for that long?
Qin Ye nodded in response as he cast his own chaotic thoughts aside, then focused his gaze on the eye of the sun god.
Now then, show me the answer.
Everyone remained silent as they waited for the show to begin, and soon, 60 seconds had passed by. In the instant that the minute ticked past, a faint buzzing sound rang out, and the entire pupil of the eyeball began to vibrate.
In fact, it wasn’t the eye of the sun god that was vibrating, it was the entire space depicted within it instead!
In this instant, all of the asteroid belts around the planes in the Yin Space River began to slowly revolve, and they were gradually picking up speed. Soon, boundless flames had been ignited, creating one dazzling band of fire after another, and immediately thereafter, there was a jolt, following which the frenzy of activity died down again.
Qin Ye was staring at the extraordinary scene before his eyes with an incredulous expression. This was completely different from the space of the mortal realm, and it couldn’t be explained by science.
This was the space of the underworld.
All of the asteroid belts around the planes that he could see had already transformed into bands of runes.
This was the planar scale!