Chapter 342

Chapter 343: Strange Otherworld

The banquet ended with everyone happy. Foxy was happiest, then the hard eating nephew, and then the Inner Disciples who barely raised their heads to talk to the guests and just kept eating.

Immortal Yuan Ling looked at his disciples with helpless eyes and sighed like a tired advisor, saying: “I wanted this useless bunch to see the world, but it is like their eyes were covered in balm. At this rate, after you finish learning from me, all you can do is be traveling quacks.”

He waved them off and snapped: “Go, your bellies are full, now get back to your rooms and do your work. I set a batch of Soul-Calming Pill furnaces, and half a month has passed with nothing finished. If there is no progress this month, you will scrub every alchemy furnace on Spirit Infusion Peak.”

The young cultivators were startled. They bowed to Immortal Yuan Ling, then cupped their hands to Yu Sheng and the others, and flew into the mountains to finish their end of term assignments.

Immortal Yuan Ling called after them: “Do not forget to check your herb plots behind the mountain at dusk. Several of you are short on spirit plant points this year.”

Watching this, Yu Sheng felt it was fresh and fun, and he said: “You look like a university advisor in the Borderland guiding students. It is not how I pictured a grandmaster of an Immortal Sect.”

Immortal Yuan Ling sighed and said: “Why do you think I chose that handle on the border network? I must care for these slow pupils, run sect affairs, and clean up after my troublesome eldest senior brother. I even have to deal with his ‘bosom friends’ who show up at our gate from time to time. When I am busy, I send out seven or eight avatars at once. Luckily, Xuan Che is diligent and takes some of the load. Enough, let us not speak of it.”

Yu Sheng laughed, then suddenly remembered something and said: “Right, I almost forgot. I brought you a gift.”

Immortal Yuan Ling waved both hands fast and said: “There is no need, we are friends and do not seek profit.”

A block of Spirit Fox Dark Iron landed on the floor with a dull thump.

He pivoted smoothly without missing a beat, eyes locked on the “dark iron,” and said: “Then again, when a friend offers, one should not refuse. This is what Xuan Che mentioned?”

Yu Sheng smiled and said: “Honest and clear. Yes, this is the Spirit Fox Dark Iron I showed Xuan Che. It is a special product from Foxy’s home. It can be forged into the core of an Artifact Spirit. I figured you could use it here as well.”

Immortal Yuan Ling clapped with joy and said: “Good, very good. I will accept this heavy gift. Stay at Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain for a while. I will show you the sights of the Grand Void Spiritual Axis. I am not bragging. The Grand Void Youth Form holds hundreds of wonders. In the wide sea of stars, it still ranks among the finest lands.”

He waved with a trace of regret and added: “I have always wanted to build up cultural tourism for the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, but the other old fellows only care about cultivating. Their minds are far too stiff.”

Yu Sheng at once thought of the “Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain cultural tourism flagship product” that Xuan Che had once shown him, and he had to hold back a laugh.

Just then, Xuan Che turned serious and said: “Master, maybe we should first talk about the new ‘strange secret realm’ near the Grand Void Spiritual Axis. What exactly is it?”

Yu Sheng also remembered why Xuan Che had been called back and looked at Immortal Yuan Ling with interest, saying: “Yes, I am curious. You probably know this too. A ‘Mistbound City’ appeared suddenly near Boundary City in the Borderland, and both the Borderland and the Featherwing star region have seen Hermitage Order activity.”

Immortal Yuan Ling’s face turned solemn. After a moment of thought, he said: “That strange secret realm is not on the Grand Void Spiritual Axis itself. It is on its moon, Nethermoon.”

Yu Sheng blinked and said: “On a moon?”

Immortal Yuan Ling explained with care: “The Grand Void Spiritual Axis has three moons circling it. They are Nethermoon, Everbright, and Everdark. Nethermoon is the largest, and it was the first alien body the cultivators of the Grand Void Youth Form stepped on after surpassing the limits of the world. Long ago we built mines, factories, and settlement points there. Later, as we spread across the Featherwing star region, we protected the ancestral center around the Grand Void Youth Form. Nethermoon, this ‘ancient moon,’ was protected as well. Most mines and factories on Nethermoon are sealed now, and the old settlements have moved away. What remains are memorial sites for later generations to visit. The strange secret realm appeared inside an old mine that was sealed three hundred years ago. Early checks show that below it is an Otherworld at least depth level 3. We still do not know how dangerous it is.”

Yu Sheng scratched his cheek and said: “A level 3 Otherworld sounds common. L-3 is not very deep. When I heard ‘strange secret realm’ I thought…”

He trailed off when he saw both Xuan Che and Immortal Yuan Ling wearing odd looks, clearly with more to say, so he asked: “What is it?”

Xuan Che said quietly: “We are not in the Borderland. Otherworlds are not common here.”

Yu Sheng fell silent. Even Irene crossed her arms and muttered with rare seriousness: “In the Borderland, eleven out of eighteen bus stops having an Otherworld is normal. The little shop by the farmer’s market can be an entrance. Outside the Borderland, one new Otherworld can shake the top ranks of the authorities, and this one popped out already at L-3.”

Yu Sheng flushed, mostly because even a scatterbrained Doll had just scolded his common sense.

Immortal Yuan Ling cleared his throat and went on: “Outside the Borderland, Otherworlds are rare. But the Featherwing star region is vast, and cultivators often see more with a sharper Spirit Vision, so we are not unfamiliar with them. This one on Nethermoon is called ‘strange’ for a reason.”

Yu Sheng leaned forward and asked: “What is it exactly?”

Immortal Yuan Ling answered with weight in his voice: “Every group that enters sees something different. Even the same group, going underground at different hours, sees different scenes.”

Yu Sheng froze. This was not like the “normal” Otherworlds he knew. He quickly searched his experience, trying to explain it. He thought first of the anomalous Otherworld line called Fairy Tale, which splits into different ‘subsets’ as stages. It was the only kind he knew that could show different scenes to each explorer. He shared this guess and briefly explained Fairy Tale.

Immortal Yuan Ling stroked his beard and said after thinking: “Different subsets creating different scenes does sound similar, but it still does not match. That Otherworld has a clear entrance, and inside is an entity space. By type it should be ‘wilderness’ or ‘kingdom,’ not ‘anomalous.’ In my view, this strange realm is remaking itself. Each time it opens, its inside gets rebuilt from the ground up.”

Irene could not hold back and asked: “So what do people actually see inside?”

Immortal Yuan Ling said: “Some see a mine whose layout has shifted. Some see a boundless cavern. Others see wide ground under sun and moon with clouds, wind, and rain. The oddest is a town under night, sometimes lit by lamps, sometimes utterly dark. Sometimes there are human voices behind doors, sometimes everything is still and dead. Sometimes a smell of blood spreads through the streets. But no matter what, no one sees any living ‘residents’ moving about.”

He paused, then added: “There is no pattern, and the odds seem random. We tried sending people at different hours, or with different temperaments, or carrying different items, yet no rules have shown. Of course, our explorations are still cautious and the sample size is small. The place is too strange, and it sits on Nethermoon, which is special. We have to be careful.”

Yu Sheng thought for a moment and asked: “What about Entities inside?”

Immortal Yuan Ling answered: “That is another strange point. There are no Entities inside.”

Yu Sheng stared and said: “No Entities? An L-3 Otherworld with zero Entities?”

Immortal Yuan Ling nodded and said: “So far, no team has found any Entities in the mine. At most, they hear strange voices in the town or see shapes in the lamplight. But nothing that appears before the explorers and moves, attacks, or talks. Not once.”

Yu Sheng looked down and met Irene’s eyes. The little Doll folded her arms and said with a grim face: “That is creepy. Not every Otherworld spawns Entities, but the deeper it is, the higher the chance. Levels 1 or 2 can be peaceful. At L-3, even rocks should fly up to hit you.”

Yu Sheng weighed it all, then raised his head to Immortal Yuan Ling and asked: “Can we go take a look?” [If we see it up close, maybe I can tell what it is.]