Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Fourfold Rite

"Brother Tang, that's not fair! You almost scared me to death," Hua Shaojie said with a tremble in his voice.

"Brother Tang, if there's another chance, let's do this again next time. For now, I just want to get a good night's sleep," unexpectedly, Bai Dongfang spoke up.

Tang Yi and the others suddenly appeared beside Bai Dongfang and his group.

"Well, Dongfang, it seems you're quite adaptable to this kind of environment. Heh, that's good. Next time there's a program test, I'll make sure to call on you," Tang Yi chuckled. "Now, I declare the test of this Light Simulation Program a complete success. As for your performances, I'm very satisfied. Even though Shaojie's words near the end weren't the most pleasant, I can understand. So, these are your rewards for this trial." With that, Tang Yi handed two little gadgets to Hua Shaojie and Bai Dongfang.

"What on earth is this?" Hua Shaojie turned it over in his hands for ages, but couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"I've been looking at it forever too, Brother Tang, and I still don't get it!" Bai Dongfang was just as puzzled, staring at the small cubic box that wasn't even half the size of his palm. It wouldn't open no matter what he tried. It was impossible to figure out.

"Haha, let me enlighten you—this is an experimental prototype..." The moment Hua Shaojie and Bai Dongfang heard the words "experimental prototype," they nearly dropped the little box from their hands.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't let those words scare you! This is actually a wonderful thing. Here, let me show you!" Tang Yi pulled out another identical cube from his storage ring, then pricked his finger and dripped blood onto it to claim ownership.

"Watch closely!" Tang Yi walked to the far end of the simulation chamber, holding the cube in his hand. "Transform—full-body defense!" As soon as the words left his mouth, the box whirred and unfolded, transforming into a protective shell—neither metal nor cloth, yet resembling both—that enveloped Tang Yi completely.

"Jet, initiate Level Ten firepower test," Tang Yi commanded after the shell had fully formed.

Instantly, dozens of offensive weapons materialized in the simulation chamber, launching coordinated strikes against Tang Yi. Knives, swords, pistols, machine guns, rocket launchers, laser rifles, and more—all unleashed their assault. When the barrage from these weapons ended, the chamber simulated attacks from cultivation techniques: fire, ice, lightning, and the like—all common offensive methods in the cultivation world—manifested one after another, bombarding Tang Yi. Yet the protective shell was barely affected, only rippling lightly as if a gentle breeze had passed over water.

"Brother Tang, what kind of magical treasure is this?" After more than ten minutes of relentless attack, Tang Yi and the shell remained completely unharmed. Hua Shaojie and the others could only gape in astonishment. After a brief stunned silence, Hua Ruoxue voiced the question on everyone's mind.

"Actually, this is still in development. It hasn't fully achieved all the functions I envisioned. We needed something to deal with those ghostly fairy system creatures, so this is the perfect field test. Strictly speaking, this cube is a magical treasure. I call it the 'Quadrant Device.' It has four main functions. First is defense, which you've all just seen. For now, it can block any attack beneath the Nascent Soul stage—at least in theory. Second, it can transform into an escape pod for flight, a lifesaving mechanism, but due to energy constraints, it can only be used once per year. Third, it has offensive capabilities; it can take the form of a variety of weapons, though it can't yet fully replicate the power of each. My goal is to eventually achieve that. The fourth function is essentially an upgrade of the third: it can simulate any piece of magical equipment from the cultivation world, provided it has the data parameters. If the Quadrant Device can scan the item directly, all the better—it can then simulate it instantly. This function is still limited to single use at a time. There's also a theoretical function where all four abilities work simultaneously, but I haven't managed to implement that yet. That's about it," Tang Yi explained in one breath.

"Oh!" Everyone gasped in awe after hearing the explanation. Deep down, they were all shaken. This thing was simply unbelievable.

"Well, what are you all standing around for? Time to eat! We've got missions tomorrow!" Tang Yi tossed this over his shoulder, leaving the group still reeling from shock.

The next day, in the spaceship's control room, Tang Yi, Hua Ruoxue, Zhang Sanfeng, Zhang Cuishan, Gu Zhenzhen, and Liu Yuefeng all watched the large screen intently. The display showed the scene outside the ship, where Hua Shaojie, Lü Zhengyang, Ding Pengfei, Liu Mingde, Zhang Qiang, Li Zhan, Bai Dongfang, Guo Ziping, Lin Jiang, and Sun Lang stood in a straight line. Each of them projected energy shields of various colors, and outside each energy shield was the same protective shell Tang Yi had demonstrated the day before. Every one of the ten wore a look of unprecedented excitement. And no wonder—Tang Yi had come up with such an extraordinary treasure, even if it was only a prototype. But paired with the second-generation super storage rings, their protection was even better than a turtle's shell—much, much better. Now, they were about to go down and hunt those ghostly creatures. Tang Yi had made it clear that whatever loot each person obtained, they could keep ten percent for themselves, with the remaining ninety percent to be handed over. But being able to pick first from the spoils was a pretty sweet deal.

Originally, Gu Zhenzhen and the others had wanted to join the hunt, but Tang Yi had only made ten Quadrant Devices. The complexity of the device meant it couldn't be mass-produced. So, he had chosen these ten, as their cultivation levels ranged from mid-Nascent Soul to early Integration, and all were men with cultivation time between 150 and 200 years. This way, they could gain more practical combat experience.

"Everyone outside, listen up. Once Jet has cleared the area with a wide-range laser sweep, you may begin the operation. There are several requirements for today's mission—make sure you remember them," Tang Yi instructed through the comm system, his voice reaching the ten outside. For this hunt, Tang Yi had specially created this communications system. Of course, for him, this was simple enough—the ship already had the necessary program models. He just needed to generate them and link them to the ship's AI, Jet.

"Ready and waiting," all ten responded in unison.