Chapter 34: Success Achieved, the Passage is Controllable!
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
As the door slammed shut, the faint starlight from the distant cosmos vanished from Yu Sheng’s sight. He stood there, stunned, for what felt like forever. Only after thirty seconds did he finally take a deep breath, realizing his forehead was damp with cold sweat.
Opening a door didn’t guarantee he’d end up somewhere specific, in some alien world or planet. What if it led straight into outer space?
The randomness and scope of this “door” far exceeded anything Yu Sheng had imagined.
He felt a rush of relief — incredibly thankful that the first time he accidentally opened the door, it had led him to an Otherworld rather than the empty void of space. If he’d been that unlucky, he couldn’t even begin to fathom what might have happened.
In the worst-case scenario, he could have found himself caught in an endless cycle of dying and reviving in the harsh vacuum of space. He might not have even had the chance to stay conscious, let alone learn to master the art of opening doors. Even if he had somehow survived, or miraculously opened a door back to Earth, it would have been a terrifying experience.
Once his heart had finally calmed down, Yu Sheng began to analyze the new information he had gathered during the door-opening process.
When the door had opened, there hadn’t been any sign of that terrifying “pull” that a vacuum should cause, nor had he felt the icy coldness of space. But in previous instances, he could hear sounds from the other side and feel the environmental effects—like the searing heat from a desolate planet.
Why was that? Could the door have some sort of filtering mechanism? When the differences between the two environments were too great, did it automatically block those effects out? Or was outer space special in some way? Perhaps a coordinate that could be seen but never truly reached? Or maybe what he had seen wasn’t really space at all, but another kind of Otherworld that only resembled a starry sky.
Yu Sheng pondered this, his gaze drifting to Irene in the oil painting.
Irene hesitated, her painted eyes meeting his. “Do you want to keep going? You looked really shaken just now…”
Yu Sheng closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, his earlier shock had turned into determination.
“Yes. Let’s continue.”
He grasped the doorknob once more, this time with even more caution. He tuned in to that subtle “spiritual guidance,” recalling the sensations from his previous successful door openings, trying to reproduce one of the passages.
He slowly pushed the door open. The scene beyond was unremarkable—a desolate beach, not one of the places he’d opened before.
Then, he tried again. And again. Opening the door over and over, searching for the path that could lead him back to Foxy. Or any other passage he could reproduce—as long as it helped him grasp the pattern of opening doors.
A fleeting thought crossed Yu Sheng’s mind—could there be a door that led back to his familiar hometown?
He still remembered that morning, leaving home and somehow arriving in this “Boundary City.” Though he had no concrete evidence, he increasingly suspected that had been the first time he opened a door—he just hadn’t realized it.
Maybe, in some future door opening, he’d push open the door and see his home again.
Yu Sheng pushed this thought aside; he had more urgent matters to deal with. Going home… he’d save that hope for later.
He kept opening the door—sometimes revealing bizarre worlds, sometimes ordinary places, sometimes ones that were absurd or eerie, and even bustling scenes.
Countless distant worlds flashed before him, each only visible for a brief moment before he shut the door again. During this repetitive process, Yu Sheng suddenly realized something amazing.
This world truly wasn’t limited to Boundary City.
Beyond this vast, seemingly special “City of Boundaries,” the universe was so wide and endless. So many landscapes, so many mysteries, so many strange and diverse places—right there, within his reach every time he opened the door.
He wasn’t trapped in this city after all.
Irene seemed to be getting excited too. Though he wasn’t sure why a doll in an oil painting would be so enthusiastic, she watched the scenery outside the door with him, clearly becoming more animated.
Since she couldn’t move, she began to comment on each scene:
“Look at that mountain! It’s so high! There’s something glowing at the top. Do you think we’ll ever get to see it up close?”
“The sea! Look at those enormous fish!”
“Wow! It’s all snow, but why is it light blue? Doesn’t look like anything’s alive there…”
“…Oh, it’s a bathroom. Let’s close that one quickly.”
“Ah! You scared me! A ghost!”
She couldn’t stay quiet for a moment, chattering non-stop about whatever appeared outside the door. At first, Yu Sheng found it a bit annoying, but gradually, Irene’s constant exclamations became a source of amusement during the otherwise tedious process.
Then, just before opening the door once more, he suddenly felt a spark—like he had finally tuned into the right frequency on an old radio. He sensed a passage he had opened before—it wasn’t the valley filled with hunger, but it was definitely a door he had opened in the past.
Yu Sheng seized that feeling, and for the first time, actively controlled his “spiritual guidance.” With no real technique, relying purely on instinct, he steered toward that familiar passage.
He carefully pushed the door open and looked through.
He saw flames flickering around the door frame. In the distance, there was a grand, ancient hall, with mystical lights floating among its ornate eaves and corridors. A handsome young man dressed in splendid robes hung from a beam, being scolded—and possibly beaten—by an elderly man with a long white beard, who radiated an air of immortality.
The elder’s voice was loud and clear, even from where Yu Sheng stood.
“After all these years as my disciple, and you secretly practice demonic arts! Explain yourself! What’s with refining living beings in your alchemy furnace? What’s with the human head? You—you—you’ve truly harmed the innocent!”
The young man twisted as he hung from the beam, shouting, “Master, I swear I’m innocent! I was just refining an ordinary Spirit-Nourishing Pill! How was I to know that Junior Brother would see a human head coming out of the furnace? Ow, ow! Please stop hitting me, Master, I’m innocent!”
The old man nearly exploded with anger. “Stop lying! I inspected your alchemy furnace myself and sensed the presence of a living being! There was indeed someone inside your furnace!”
Yu Sheng stood there, utterly speechless. Then he noticed a small figure popping up near the door frame—it was the little Daoist boy with the fan he’d seen before. The child widened his eyes as he glanced at the door, then turned and ran toward the hall, shouting, “Master! Master! Another human head just came out of Senior Brother’s alchemy furnace! It’s the same as before!”
The elder pulled out what looked like a bronze belt.
Well, it might not have been a bronze belt; it was too far away to tell. But judging from the young man’s immediate screams, whatever it was, it wasn’t pleasant.
Yu Sheng quickly slammed the door shut, his mind a jumble of astonishment, excitement, and a touch of guilt. After a moment, he turned to Irene, his eyes shining. “I did it! I did it!”
Irene jumped slightly. “Calm down! Did what?”
“That passage just now—it was one I’d opened before! I managed to control it and open it again! The process is controllable! Reproducible!”
He was both thrilled and relieved. If he could control that subtle spiritual guidance, it meant he could also control and reopen any other door he’d accessed before—including the valley where Foxy was!
Now, he just needed to try and recall the frequency he’d sensed when he first fell into that valley. Even if he couldn’t find the exact one, he could keep trying until he did.
Irene seemed to share his excitement, but she quickly regained her composure. “Um, shouldn’t you maybe explain things to the people on the other side of that door? The one hanging from the beam is about to be beaten to death…”
Yu Sheng blinked, only now remembering the scene he’d just witnessed. He wasn’t used to being able to control where the door led and hadn’t considered the consequences of his actions.
He reached for the doorknob again but hesitated.
Would the people on the other side be reasonable? That immortal-looking elder… Could he be the ‘immortal’ Foxy mentioned? But he didn’t seem like the type to run a travel agency. Maybe they’re not the same kind of immortals. What if I can’t explain myself and they decide to attack? As an ordinary person, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Maybe I could just call out from here? They shouldn’t be able to reach me through the door. After all, when I closed the door before, the elder only sensed the presence of a living being; he didn’t come through.
His thoughts raced, but finally, Yu Sheng took a deep breath and focused. He tried to lock onto the same frequency as before. After double-checking, he carefully opened the door again.
Success welled up inside him; he’d done it!
The elder was approaching, flying on a cloud of rosy light, still dragging along the young man who looked thoroughly beaten.
Standing safely on his side of the door, Yu Sheng called out, “It’s all a misunderstanding!”
The young man in the splendid robes nearly fell off the cloud, his voice desperate. “This is too much! I don’t know which senior immortal you are, but if I’ve offended you, please tell me!”
“I didn’t do anything! I was just passing by!” Yu Sheng replied honestly. “I didn’t know this was your alchemy furnace—it’s all a misunderstanding, really!”
And with that, he quickly closed the door. He was still afraid that the elder might retaliate.
Turning back to Irene, he found her gazing at him from the oil painting.
“Do you think I explained things clearly?” he asked.
Irene nodded vigorously. “I think you did.”
“Still, I feel pretty bad for him.”
“Well, we probably won’t run into them again. The world’s a big place, right?”
“Yeah, you’re right.”