Chapter 403
Chapter 404: The Rift… Disappeared?
Xuan Che also noticed the small change in Mo Ran’s face, and he understood very well how the Border City Lord felt right now.
He cleared his throat to draw her focus, then said: “Ahem, that is the situation. From what I know, the recent cases of cultivators suffering Qi Deviation and going missing are all centered on Ink City. The other parts of Sentinel Silence have almost no reports like this. So if all of this really is the work of that ‘Yun Qing Zi,’ then there must be something here in this city that he cares about. No matter what, there has to be a reason he chose this place as a target.”
Mo Ran frowned and spoke in a heavy tone after a brief pause: “But what could Ink City have that is worth the hand of such an ancient powerhouse? Ink City is the largest city in Sentinel Silence only because it used to have the biggest spirit ore mine on the planet. The lode is long dry now. There is no special blessed land, no great spirit treasure in the city. He cannot be after an exhausted mine, right?”
Xuan Che also frowned. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said: “We cannot know that yet. Yun Qing Zi aims very high and has most likely been lurking and planning in the Border for hundreds of years. Any action he takes now may be just one small part of a much longer, larger plan. The things in Ink City are likely the same.”
Listening, Mo Ran’s face showed a thoughtful look. Xuan Che paused, then went on: “Also, this is not something Ink City will have to face alone. The Grand Void Spiritual Axis is preparing. Once this investigation makes progress or Yun Qing Zi shows himself, support from the Capital Youth Form will arrive at once.
“Besides, I will contact Sentinel Silence’s Youth Form Guardian Elder. If such a huge danger is hiding on the planet they guard and they noticed nothing, that is strange too.”
Mo Ran let out a small breath and nodded.
Then Xuan Che seemed to recall something and asked casually: “Speaking of the Youth Form Guardian Elder, if I remember right, the one guarding Sentinel Silence is… Elder Dao Heng? I do not know him well. I only know he came from the Heavenly Derivation Sect, and later, by order of the Immortal Alliance, he was recommended jointly by Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain and Nethergloom Valley and became the Youth Form Warden here. How has he done?”
Mo Ran nodded and said: “You are right. Elder Dao Heng was assigned here by the Immortal Alliance a hundred years ago to guard this star on behalf of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain and Nethergloom Valley. For this hundred years he has worked carefully, protected the world, and earned respect from all sides.
“Also, Elder Dao Heng is low key. Besides his duties as Youth Form Warden, he rarely meddles in mundane affairs and does not show up often. In the past twenty to thirty years, Sentinel Silence has been very calm. The small cities on nearby planets and the orbital satellite cities have been stable too, so he appears even less in public. Of course, that is only in front of the general public. He still attends the usual intercity meetings and the planetary defense briefings.”
Xuan Che asked in a quiet voice: “No signs of trouble?”
Mo Ran answered with a small shake of her head: “None.”
He rubbed his chin and nodded slightly, thinking. Just then a faint hum sounded and broke his train of thought.
He reached into his robe and took out a glowing Spirit Mirror. A new message had arrived. The sender was Yu Sheng.
Xuan Che’s face turned serious at once. He raised a hand and opened the message.
What he read made him sober in an instant.
Mo Ran glanced over and grew tense too, asking in a hurry: “If the Immortal Envoy looks this serious… has something happened again?”
Xuan Che thought after reading, then looked at the City Lord and said in a steady voice: “Sit tight.”
Mo Ran: “…”
[The sky might be falling.]
Without humoring her, Xuan Che waited until the City Lord sat properly, then cleared his throat and read: “My Elder Senior Uncle went with others to investigate the City Outskirts. At the edge of Ink City they were attacked by Yun Qing Zi’s black robed cultivators. The enemy had many people and drove a large number of demon beasts. There was also an unknown outsider from the unorthodox path in command, a cultist of the Holy Revere Hermitage. In addition, they found a Spatial Rift of massive scale. The area it covers cannot yet be measured. Two Immortal Foxes from the Grand Void Spiritual Axis were also attacked on site. One was at death’s door, but was saved in time…”
Seeing the City Lord’s eyes start to glaze over halfway through, he took out a Medicine Gourd, tipped out an Elixir, and flicked it right into her mouth, then continued calmly: “Luckily, the rescue was timely…”
To be fair, the rescue really was timely. The Elixir slid down, and Mo Ran snapped back from the edge of a broken Dao heart at once.
[The sky has fallen.]
Xuan Che sighed lightly, looked over the message again, and adjusted how he sat. Then he said: “Next, let us talk about the Holy Revere Hermitage… The Hermitage Order cultist at the City Outskirts was at least a Sage and might even be a Great Sage.”
Mo Ran: “…”
[It is not done falling. It keeps collapsing.]
…
A thunderclap tore across the sky. The flash lit the rainy night, and the long rumble rolled between heaven and earth without end.
Yu Sheng lifted his head and stared into the low, heavy clouds and the blurry rain curtain, feeling that something was very wrong. [This feels wrong. Very wrong.]
He was standing on a new fox tail, floating above the place where he had fought the Hermitage Order cultist earlier. Next to him, Immortal Yuan Hao had a hand free now. He stood on his Chainsaw Sword in midair, which buzzed and droned.
Yu Sheng ran his fingers across the air before him, frowned, and looked back: “I opened the Door right here before, but now the feeling is gone.”
At that moment Immortal Yuan Hao was holding a Spirit Brick, white and smooth as jade. Like a demon-revealing mirror, he swept it back and forth through the air as he checked. He turned his head and said: “The space here is very calm. I did not find the entrance to any hidden secret realm or a pocket in space. Zheng, our fellow daoist, also examined the ground just now. There is no abnormal sign.”
Yu Sheng blinked in disbelief and said: “But that makes no sense. I clearly opened a channel that huge before. You saw it too, right? The sky looked like it fell over. The whole thing turned into a slanted mirror full of cracks. On the other side of those cracks it looked like another world. It was actually pretty grand.”
Immortal Yuan Hao nodded: “Yes. Though I was busy saving Shang An, I did see the spectacle in the sky. From what we saw, another layer of space really is hidden here. And since that ‘secret realm’ was opened by you with a gap that large, it should not be able to just hide again like nothing happened.”
Yu Sheng’s brow stayed tight. He said nothing more and, riding the fox tail under his feet, searched several directions in the sky.
Immortal Yuan Hao followed on his Chainsaw Sword, sweeping the Spirit Brick again and again.
Down on the ground, the two Irenes looked up at the two figures flying back and forth above for a long time. At last they could not help speaking together: “This scene is so cursed.”
Zheng Zhi blinked: “Huh?”
“One rides a fox tail, one rides a Chainsaw Sword, circling in the sky… never mind, you would not get it,” Irene said, flapping her hands in impatience. “I have to binge more games and drama later to wash my eyes. Those two just ruined my last fantasy of xianxia.”
Foxy spoke to the little doll in a serious tone: “It is not right to replace reality with fantasy. Watch less random stuff. It hurts your mind.”
Irene planted her hands on her hips and said with full confidence: “I do not even have a brain. Why would I be scared of that?”
Silence fell around them. Even Foxy had no idea how to reply. Several seconds later, Luna, who had been on standby, suddenly lifted her head as if she had rebooted and said slowly: “Mm, right.”
Irene thought for a moment and felt that C Buckle was up to no good this time. Before she could figure out why, two streams of light flashed. Yu Sheng on the fox tail and Immortal Yuan Hao on the Chainsaw Sword descended from the sky.
The little doll forgot what she had been thinking and ran to Yu Sheng, all excited: “Hey, you finally came down!”
Yu Sheng dodged Irene’s lightning tackle this time. He grabbed the fox tail beside him and used it as a shield against the little spark-ball girl who was crackling with arcs from head to toe. Then he wiped the sweat off his forehead and sighed: “Yeah, I came down. Too bad I could not find where that Rift went.”
Irene had been a little mad that he blocked her midair charge, but his words froze her: “Huh? There is a Door you cannot open?”
“It is not the first time. There are always weird exceptions in this world. What can I do?” Yu Sheng spread his hands and said, “And you saw what was on the other side of those rifts. That was clearly not just a hidden pocket of space. The scale was much bigger than the space the Holy Revere Hermitage opened when they hid the Pillar of Order… I think this thing has some new kind of hiding or moving mechanism I have not figured out yet.”
Irene listened, stunned. She did not really get it, but she was used to the feeling of “I heard it but did not understand.” She rubbed her chin, pretended to think for a few seconds, then looked up and asked: “Oh. Then what now?”
“What now? Now we go back. Standing here in the rain is pointless,” Yu Sheng said, waving his hand. He turned to look at the dark sky not far away and at the towering ancient Refining Tower. After a silent moment he let out a breath and added, “We suddenly have a pile of clues, but the whole thing feels even more confusing. I need to go back and think it through. Also…”
As he spoke, he drew back his gaze and looked ahead.
Irene, the one nicknamed Rebar, ran out of the abandoned factory and stopped in front of him.
She had fallen in a mud pit earlier and then got rained on. The mud had not washed off. She looked even more of a mess, but she seemed to have forgotten that fact and stood there acting very pleased with herself.
She always acted pleased with herself.
Yu Sheng glanced at her and said with a straight face: “…And I need to get you properly cleaned. This is getting out of hand.”