Chapter 12: The Quantum Forge

The CEO card had demanded a furnace, and Ao Yetian was determined to build one that didn't require the delicate, draining life-force of his three anchors.

The Quantum-Entanglement-Based Energy Matrix concept, a phrase gleaned from the card's cold, robotic interface, was the key.

He theorized it described a self-sustaining, high-efficiency energy loop—something the stagnant cultivation of Glory City hadn't touched in millennia.

To anchor this foreign concept, he needed a foundation of immense, stable spiritual power: a Spiritual Vein tied to an ancient, forgotten TDG Formation Blueprint.

Ao Yetian recalled a piece of obscure lore from the original novel's past-life memories: a hidden, ancient lair deep beneath the ruins of the Holy Orchid Institute's oldest training grounds, a place Nie Li had stumbled upon later in the timeline.

The lair was not a treasure trove, but the site of a defunct, massive defensive array built during the city's founding—a spiritual bedrock.
Moving under the guise of deep-night training,

Ao Yetian used his Profound Energy to melt through a sealed section of the Institute's oldest wall.

He descended into a labyrinth of cold, damp tunnels, the air heavy with the stagnation of ages.

After an hour of tunneling, he found it: a vast, circular cavern carved deep into the bedrock.

At its center lay a faded, thirty-foot Inscription Array, etched into the floor with lines so deep they pulsed with a dormant, colossal power.

This was a TDG Formation from the Legend Rank era—a prime candidate for his blueprint.

Ao Yetian set to work immediately. He couldn't risk bringing his three anchors here; the energies involved were too raw, too volatile.

This was a purely solitary endeavor.
He began by activating the ancient array. He pulled spiritual gems—hundreds of millions of Spirit Coins' worth, amassed from his Alchemist Association payments—and placed them along the faded lines.

He didn't use the array for its original defensive purpose; he used it to filter and stabilize the earth’s natural spiritual pulse, creating a focused, endless current of high-purity TDG Realm Energy.

The cavern glowed with a vast, gentle light.

The power was immense, but still not enough. The card's system had specifically called for Quantum-Entanglement, a principle of simultaneous existence he understood only abstractly.

Ao Yetian closed his eyes, summoning his Profound Core's energy. His ATG power was the catalyst—the universal solvent.

He took the CEO card and placed it carefully on the central nexus of the TDG formation.

"Blueprint: Quantum-Entanglement-Based Energy Matrix,"

He commanded the card mentally.

"Adaptation target: TDG Realm, Ancient Defensive Array. Activate Fusion."

The reaction was immediate and terrifying.

The TDG formation flared from a gentle white to a blinding, chaotic silver.

The CEO card released a thin, black wire of pure dimensional power that snaked out and plunged into the bedrock.

The two systems—one ancient, one future—were violently forced together.

Ao Yetian channeled his Profound Energy, pouring it into the center point to maintain the structural integrity.

He was a lightning rod, bridging the gap between two incompatible realities.

A wave of intense, blinding heat radiated outwards, followed by an unnerving, localized gravity distortion.

The air began to vibrate, and the spiritual gems feeding the array vaporized instantly.

The fusion was tearing the local spacetime.

He felt it.

The intrusion of his own fragmented, twisted past.

As the energies screamed, a torrent of vivid, horrifying sensations flooded his mind, memories not of this world, but of the life he couldn't recall: A vast, black throne room. The crushing weight of absolute, uncontested authority.

A twisted sense of justice that justified any sacrifice.

He saw faces—not the faces of his anchors, but faces contorted in terror, begging for mercy he knew he never gave.

I am not a hero, a cold voice whispered in his soul. I am a necessary tyrant.

The memories were shards of glass, cutting into his resolve.

His Profound Energy wavered, and the fusion began to destabilize. The air shrieked as the TDG array fought back against the foreign intrusion.

"No!"

Ao Yetian roared, forcing his consciousness past the pain and the memory fragments. He was this man now—the calculated survivor who protected his allies.

"You will obey me!"

He slammed the full might of his Profound Core into the nexus.

The raw, chaotic ATG Profound Energy acted as a shock absorber, momentarily overriding both the TDG and MWIBC systems.

The silver light solidified into a stable, pulsing purple core.

The Permanent Furnace
When the light faded, the ancient TDG formation was utterly transformed.

The lines were still etched in the floor, but they were now glowing with a contained, dark-purple light—a permanent, autonomous energy generator.

The core was now running on the principle of the Quantum-Entanglement Matrix, drawing minimal, continuous, stable energy from the earth's spiritual pulse and refining it into the exact essence the CEO card demanded.

Ao Yetian, drenched in sweat and shaking from the trauma of the intrusive memories, carefully retrieved the card.

[SYSTEM STABILIZATION ACHIEVED.]

[FUEL SOURCE: QUANTUM-ENTANGLEMENT MATRIX (LOCALIZED).]

[CONSUMPTION RATE: SUSTAINABLE.]

[HUMAN ANCHOR: NO LONGER REQUIRED.]

A wave of pure, absolute relief washed over him.

He was free. He no longer needed to risk the life-force of Ning'er, Ziyun, or Yang Xin. His affection for them, though still real, no longer carried the terrifying weight of life-or-death dependency.

He knew he couldn't leave the core running unattended.

The sheer power generated by the fusion could eventually breach the bedrock and alert every Legend Rank expert in the world—including the one he just recruited.

He looked at the dark-purple core, a physical manifestation of his unique, dangerous genius.

He had just created a literal power plant that fused three fictional universes.

“I need security.”

He thought, his mind racing. I need a technician.

“And I need to test how much power this new core can buy on the market.”

He was no longer a frantic escapee. He was now a sovereign power, sitting on an infinite energy source.

The city was still his to conquer, but now the terms were on his side.

Ao Yetian has secured a permanent energy source.

His next move must consolidate this power and prepare for the final stages of his plan.