Chapter 369
Chapter 369: How Big Is This Otherworld, Anyway?
Ignoring Irene’s blank stare, Yu Sheng walked up to Immortal Yuan Ling, who was holding the spirit-link mirror and replaying the footage recorded in the otherworld again and again.
Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, torn from the planet’s surface.
The Grand Void Spiritual Axis, slowly breaking apart in space.
And the distant stars, twisted and chaotic.
Immortal Yuan Ling’s expression was more serious than Yu Sheng had ever seen it.
“If this is truly our past,” Immortal Qian Ji said quietly from the side, his chest-voice heavy, “then that bizarre otherworld on Nethermoon is even more special—and more important—than anyone imagined. It can reflect scenes of the Old World, and it can even bring things out from the Old World. And now a group of unknown black-robed evil cultivators have their eyes on it, searching for some so-called relic of the Emperor Lord inside. Put all that together, and plenty of old monsters won’t be able to sit still.”
“Not just the ones we already know,” Immortal Yuan Ling said, stern. “Even reclusive ancestor patriarchs who’ve hidden for years will come out the moment they hear. When it comes to the Old World, the sects that lived through the early chaos of the Grand Void Spiritual Axis care even more than we do.”
He paused, then his gaze sharpened. “But compared to that, I’m more concerned about another doubt—one we’ve never taken seriously.”
Immortal Qian Ji turned his head. “Oh?”
“Is that bizarre otherworld truly on Nethermoon?” Immortal Yuan Ling asked, grave.
The moment those words fell, the entire grand hall went silent.
Even Irene—who’d been chattering at Luna nearby—froze and turned to stare in confusion.
“If it’s not on Nethermoon, then where else could it be?” Irene blurted. “Didn’t we enter from there—”
She stopped mid-sentence, as if the thought finally caught up, and her eyes widened slightly.
Yu Sheng’s gaze drifted to Zheng Zhi, listening obediently not far away, and to Rapunzel and Mermaid, both of whom looked a little distracted.
“Those three didn’t enter the otherworld from the mine entrance on Nethermoon,” Immortal Yuan Ling said slowly. “Their entry point was on a mountain path on Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. Although this is related to Zheng Zhi’s… talent, that entrance still opened on a Grand Void star. And earlier, there was also a group of black-robed evil cultivators—their entrance may have been a third place, outside the Grand Void Spiritual Axis and Nethermoon altogether.”
“So the mine is just one fixed entrance,” Yu Sheng said. He’d already caught Yuan Ling’s meaning. “The ‘main body’ could be somewhere else. And the entrances… might be spread across all of Featherwing-13b.”
Rapunzel blinked. “A mixed entry method—condition-based plus location-based? You can enter through a specific rift, but as long as you’re within a certain range, you can also enter directly if you meet certain conditions?”
“Very likely,” Immortal Yuan Ling said, nodding. “I already sent disciples to check the mountain path you three took when you fell. They searched the entire area and found no trace of a fixed otherworld rift. There is no permanent entrance there.”
“If that’s true, then it’s worse,” Immortal Qian Ji said, worry threading into his voice. “The environment inside this otherworld can be extremely dangerous at times. If its entrances are no longer limited to Nethermoon, and it can swallow people on the Grand Void Spiritual Axis as long as conditions are met… This time it was Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain. Next time? A small sect? Or even a city where ordinary people live? This time it swallowed three people. Next time, ten? A hundred?”
“I don’t think that’s very likely,” Yu Sheng said before he could stop himself. “I’m fairly confident about Zheng Zhi’s constitution. Even in the Borderland, he’s a rare type…”
Immortal Qian Ji blinked his lens assemblies and looked at Zheng Zhi. “Daoist friend, is this truly the case?”
Zheng Zhi looked awkward, but he nodded anyway. “Our captain did say something like that after reading my test report.”
Immortal Qian Ji fell silent for a moment, thoughtful. Then he spoke again, steadier. “Even so, we can’t hide news of this otherworld. No matter the considerations, we should notify all sects. If something truly happens on the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, we need the ability to detect it. And those unknown black-robed evil cultivators—this time they suffered a loss, but there may be a next. They understand this otherworld far too well. If they use its traits to slip onto the Grand Void Spiritual Axis without anyone noticing, the trouble will be enormous.”
Immortal Yuan Ling nodded grimly. “We should. Today, the two of us will draft an announcement together and explain the situation to the Remote Mist Sect, Heng Xu, and Nethergloom Valley, then discuss follow-up arrangements.”
“Has the black-clothed guy we captured before still not woken up?” Yu Sheng asked.
“He woke,” Immortal Yuan Ling said at once, “but his mind is extremely tough, and it seems a powerful restriction was placed on his memory. Direct questioning gets us nothing. So I threw him into Heart Questioning Pavilion first, and I have him drink an elixir every day. Let him cycle through ‘decades’ inside illusion arts and see if anything loosens.”
“Excellent,” Immortal Qian Ji said with approval. “I know your pill-and-talisman skills. After that, unless he finds a chance to kill himself, nobody can endure it.”
He paused, then added, “Before we uncover the truth, I’ll have this avatar stay here with you. Just arrange a mechanism workshop for me. Is that alright?”
“Of course,” Immortal Yuan Ling replied.
Then he turned to Yu Sheng. “What you experienced today was dangerous. I arranged tea and food in Immortal Dining Hall, and prepared a little wine. Shall we eat together and calm our nerves?”
What could Yu Sheng say?
Foxy was already hugging her tail and wiping drool the moment she heard the word food, so Yu Sheng could only nod.
Rapunzel immediately leaned over too. “Can we eat with you?”
“Of course,” Immortal Yuan Ling laughed. “You’re all guests. If you’re willing, those seventy-some dolls can also go to Immortal Dining Hall whenever they’re hungry.”
Mermaid instantly covered her face. “Rapunzel, you’re kind of embarrassing, I’m telling you.”
“Stop talking so much,” Rapunzel snapped. “Old immortal is treating. I’m just asking you—are you eating or not?!”
“Eating.”
…
After everyone ate and drank their fill—Rapunzel and Mermaid stuck to juice—Yu Sheng, mere pedestrian, returned to Wu Tong Road 66 on Cloud Viewing Terrace.
Zheng Zhi got dragged into the living room too, because Yu Sheng had some very serious things to say to him.
“You’re sure you’re not going back to Boundary City?” Yu Sheng asked, confirming it one last time. “You saw the situation here. There’s a particularly nasty otherworld active right now. Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain is confirmed to be at least one of its entry regions. If you stay, the chance of you falling in again isn’t low.”
Zheng Zhi had been stiff and nervous when he was first brought in, but now he thought seriously, then nodded firmly. “I’m sure.”
“I want to hear the reason.”
Zheng Zhi rubbed his hands awkwardly. “Uh… there are two reasons. One is for reporting to the bureau, and one is the real reason I’m telling you. Which one do you want first?”
Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow. “Start with the one for the bureau.”
“Because the task the bureau assigned me is to stand guard at Wu Tong Road 66. I have to complete my task.”
“Alright,” Yu Sheng said. “The real reason?”
Zheng Zhi’s eyes nearly watered. “Brother Yu… in the Borderland… there are more otherworld than here!”
Yu Sheng: “…”
“I might fall into that otherworld again here, sure,” Zheng Zhi said, half laughing and half crying, “but where can I go where I won’t fall? You make it sound like I’ll be safe the moment I go to Boundary City.”
“Alright,” Yu Sheng said, pressing a hand to his forehead. “Fair. I forgot that part.”
Irene, who’d been clicking through channels with the remote, looked up too. “Yeah. Here there are only a few active otherworld, and only one is highly active right now. Even if big nephew falls in, those of us outside at least know where to fish him out. If he goes to Boundary City, he might slip once and find eight hundred ways to die—and when the coroner shows up, they’d have to open blind boxes across the city’s otherworld and draw big nephew fragments…”
Zheng Zhi broke into a cold sweat and tucked his neck in. “I-I don’t think it’s that serious. I mean, I’ve gone twenty years without dying.”
Yu Sheng flicked Irene on the forehead. “Play fewer of those gacha blind-box games. I give you allowance and you spend it on top-ups—and after topping up, you still lose to bots.”
Irene sprang up onto her feet, baring her teeth. “Say that again and I’ll fight you! And what’s wrong with me playing a game? This is the only way I can relax…”
Then she squatted on the sofa and launched into a rant that wouldn’t end—how she couldn’t even eat normally, couldn’t drink water, doll clothes were crazy expensive and barely anything fit, the shoes she bought last time were hard plastic, even when she slept she only took up half a meter, and she still got mocked for playing a game.
It went on so long Yu Sheng’s head went numb.
And she didn’t even rant alone. Halfway through, she called over her other three bodies. Four voices chattered in Yu Sheng’s ears at once, the content tragic enough to make anyone cry—if Yu Sheng didn’t actually know she hogged every TV in the house, made more noise alone than the entire household combined, and somehow took up three-quarters of the bed when she slept.
After a few minutes of that, Zheng Zhi’s head felt like it was swelling into a bucket. For the first time, he realized this harmless-looking Little Doll was normally this unbearable.
He shot Yu Sheng a look full of sympathy, stood up, and edged toward the door. “Then… Brother Yu, you do your thing. I won’t bother you. I’m going back to organize my materials and write my report to the bureau…”
Yu Sheng lifted a hand to stop him.
He didn’t even get close.