Chapter 392

Chapter 393: Portable Wutong Road 66

In a suite owned by Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain’s business arm in central Sentinel Silence, Yu Sheng stood by the window and looked out at the alien city.

The rain kept falling. Low clouds blurred the line between day and night. When Foxy landed earlier, sunlight still shone on the thick cloud top over Sentinel Silence, but the city below stayed wrapped in a nightlike drizzle. Countless lights brightened the rain city. Neon flickered between high towers, and many huge Illusion Arts projections floated in the air. At the far edge of the rainy vista, the ancient Refining Towers stood like strange mountains outside the city. Now and then a lightning flash lit them up, showing a few outlines of past glory.

Foxy was happily eating. A table crowded with local foods of unknown names sat in front of her, and those plates clearly beat the window’s view in her heart.

Zheng Zhi sat across from her, stiff and nervous. Faced with a table full of dishes, he seemed at a loss. Before every bite, he checked with Xuan Che on three things: What is this? Can a Human eat it? Will it suddenly jump up and hit me?

Yu Sheng thought it was a shame he hadn’t let his big nephew see Foxy’s stew, [He was sure that if the kid had witnessed that, his tolerance for weird dishes would be sky high. On this border planet’s menu, he would eat anything. He might even accept getting punched by the food before every meal.]

Irene sat cross legged on the sill beside Yu Sheng, staring out with big bright eyes. She had the excited energy of a traveler on a long trip and seemed happy about everything she saw.

Luna stood as always, quiet behind Yu Sheng. She didn’t seem to focus on anything. The restaurant’s lights and the rain outside glowed on her cold alloy shell.

“Where do we start?” Yu Sheng broke the silence and looked to Immortal Yuan Hao, who sat with Xuan Che. “Do you have a plan?”

“Two lines,” Immortal Yuan Hao said with a nod. “First, Xuan Che has contacted the city lord. As an envoy from Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain, he can ask Ink City to cooperate. We will review the city’s Cultivators in the open and see if we can find any traces of the Black-Robed Cultivators. Second, while Xuan Che deals with the officials, we walk the city. I swept it with my Divine Sense on the way. Several places felt wrong. The spiritual energy is clogged, the flows are sluggish. We need to confirm what that means.”

Yu Sheng listened and gave a small nod.

Then he drew back his gaze and looked around.

This was the “base” Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain had arranged for them. It was comfortable and spacious, mixing a future-tech feel with fairyland touches. In this hotel called Immortal Conclave Isle, it had to be one of the best suites.

After a brief pause, Yu Sheng walked to a bedroom door, raised his hand, and patted the frame as if checking something.

Immortal Yuan Hao watched with curiosity and asked: “What are you doing?”

“Being away isn’t as comfortable as being at home. It’s also not as convenient,” Yu Sheng said casually, then glanced at the little doll on the windowsill. “I have an idea.”

“Okay, okay, you have an idea again. Got it,” Irene drawled, sounding used to this as she slid down from the sill and padded over to look up at him. “But this belongs to the hotel. If you mess it up, we have to pay.”

Yu Sheng fished in his pocket and pulled out a palm sized stiff card.

On the card, someone had drawn an Alchemy Formation for a Spirit Infusion Ritual in a suspiciously dark red “paint.” In the center sat the hotel’s logo. It was supposed to be a fox head, but because a certain someone’s art skills were awful, it ended up as a triangle.

Irene stared with a look that said she had questions: “…?”

“I call this Portable Wutong Road 66,” Yu Sheng said very seriously. “The basic idea is to split the steps I used when making those Fixed Portals. First, do the Spirit Infusion and the assignment in advance and seal them into this. Later, when I find a door to act as the carrier, I finish the Door Opening step. The process is simple, the use is convenient, and it makes perfect sense.”

Irene was dumbfounded: “This actually works?!”

“I think so,” Yu Sheng said, thinking it over. “I tried it once at home. I linked the upstairs bedroom nightstand to the downstairs fridge. It worked fine.”

“You basically made a Precast Gate,” the little doll finally blurted out, pointing at the card in his hand. “Look, invent what you want, but isn’t this a little low?”

“What do you mean low? This is a high end tool I crafted,” Yu Sheng shot back, eyes wide. “Peak alchemy, okay? And look, it even comes with a peel off backing. I went back to Boundary City just to buy it. Uh, it’s kind of hard to peel.”

“Stop, stop, stop. You’re about to tear it. Give it here,” Irene waved frantically and climbed up his pants. “Let me do it. Your hands are clumsy.”

She snatched the Prefabricated Door Card and, with bottle-cap sized hands surprisingly quick, peeled the backing in a few flicks. Holding up the card, she asked: “Next step? Stick it on the door?”

“Right.”

Irene pressed the card to the door and patted it twice: “That’s it?”

“Now we activate it, which is like the last step of the Spirit Infusion Ritual, forming the link between the formation and the target,” Yu Sheng said. “For this we need fresh blood, Lu-”

He had barely sounded the first syllable of “Luna” when the Artificial Saintess blurred from the window like a ghost, appeared at his side with a hiss, and brought a blade down.

Blood sprayed from the back of Yu Sheng’s hand. He blinked at the Metal Doll, and she stared back, then slowly nodded: “Cut.”

“Thanks,” Yu Sheng said.

He turned, and before the wound closed, he smeared blood over the card and muttered under his breath. To others it sounded very mystical. Only Irene, perched on his shoulder, knew he was reciting the multiplication table. [He had clearly picked up this set of Incantation Gestures during his time at Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.]

A second later, the blood sank into the paper without a trace. The card seemed to wake up, becoming a living patch of “skin.”

It began to creep. Its edges spread like a living thing. Countless fine tendrils dug into the door, carrying life into the new carrier. The formation already had Spirit Infusion, the blood of the door’s owner, the intent that pointed to the target, and a body to carry out that intent. Everything was ready. The door took effect.

From the plain looking door came a low, unreal heartbeat.

Yu Sheng let out a slow breath and, without calling on any extra Door Opening power, casually pushed the door.

Beyond the door lay the living room of Wutong Road 66.

“Just to be safe, let me ask,” Irene said, blinking. The little doll was long used to outrageous things, but she still needed to confirm this: “You didn’t really bring Wutong Road 66 over here again, did you?”

“No,” Yu Sheng said quickly, waving his hands. “It’s called Portable Wutong Road 66, but I only moved the door. The house itself is still on Cloud Viewing Terrace. The effect is the same. Push the door and you’re home.”

“Good,” Irene sighed in relief. “Not that crazy.”

Across the room, Xuan Che and Immortal Yuan Hao were already gaping. They spoke in unison: “This counts as not crazy?!”

As soon as he finished, Xuan Che turned to the nearest person, Zheng Zhi: “Has Mr. Yu always been like this?”

“I don’t know,” the big nephew said, still stunned. “I haven’t known him long.”

Xuan Che glanced at the Nine-Tailed Fox across the table, only to find that Foxy hadn’t looked up once. The plate stack beside her, however, had gotten higher and higher.

She hadn’t noticed anything happening around her.

Soon, the fox maiden seemed to sense something. She lifted her head, saw the door that led home, and grinned. She hopped through, grabbed two buns from the fridge at Wutong Road 66, came back to Sentinel Silence, split them open, and dipped them in sauce.

The whole process flowed smoothly, without a hint of confusion. It was as if that was how the world was supposed to work. Or rather, as if that was how the world her benefactor had built for her worked.

Xuan Che and Immortal Yuan Hao had nothing to say.

…

At the same time, on the edge of Ink City, deep inside an abandoned industrial zone near an ancient Refining Tower, dozens of black clad, masked Cultivators gathered in an old Spirit Ore Refinery, all busy around a formation that was clearly set up recently.

The formation was carved into the floor, and countless phantom Rifts hovered above it. Each Rift was filled with hazy light and shadow, holding strange Illusion Arts and faraway times.

Right now, all the Rifts flickered, unstable, as if their links to whatever lay beyond might snap at any moment.

A blurred image of an old man floated over the Illusion Arts. In the hazy shape, only a pair of eyes shone clear, heavy with pressure, staring down at the busy Black-Robed Cultivators.

“Find out what just happened, and quickly,” the old man said. His voice sounded thin and far, as if muffled behind a thick curtain from the real world. “All twenty two sites across the planet were disturbed at the same time. That cannot be simple Earth Vein disorder. Some hidden mighty one has taken action. Do not take this lightly.”

The Black-Robed Cultivators answered in unison: “Yes, Benefactor!”