Heavenly Gate

At noon the following day, after nearly a day of tireless galloping, the white tiger finally carried Xu Yuan to their destination. After letting the white tiger go, Xu Yuan stood alone atop a side peak, before which lay the abyss of Xuantian Cliff, plunging tens of thousands of zhang into the depths. Stepping forward, Xu Yuan peered down off Xuantian Cliff. As far as the eye could see, there was only an endless abyss shrouded in clouds and mist. Suddenly, the sea of clouds above the peak churned, and a gust of fierce wind swept in. It whipped loudly against Xu Yuan's brocade robes, causing him to sway. Seeing this, Xu Yuan followed his cowardice and retreated back to the safer interior of the summit. In the game Cangyuan, he could command his character to leap off Xuantian Cliff without a second thought, but now... better not. Tearing his eyes away, Xu Yuan looked toward the main peak of Tianmen Mountain. Looking across from here to there, the distance spanned a thousand zhang. Beyond the towering, precipitous cliff face of the main peak, celestial mists coiled and drifted. From bottom to top, the clouds seemed abruptly rent asunder. High on the colossal mountain, a massive circular breach hundreds of zhang wide stood like a gate opening into the heavens! Gazing at that colossal Heavenly Gate, Xu Yuan felt an inexplicable wave of discomfort welling up in his chest, alongside the sheer awe. Only when he pulled his gaze away did the discomfort slowly dissipate. Intrigued, Xu Yuan looked toward the Heavenly Gate once more. Soon enough, the discomfort that had just faded began creeping back into his heart. What is this? Why do I feel like this just staring at that gate? Noticing the anomaly in his body, Xu Yuan hurriedly jerked his gaze back. Amidst his bewilderment, the guidebook's description of Tianmen Mountain flashed through his mind. He subconsciously looked up once more, his expression a mix of doubt and disbelief. "Is this sword intent? Could that Heavenly Gate at the mountain's crest truly have been pierced through by a single sword strike?" Xu Yuan suddenly realized that his understanding of the world of Cangyuan was still lacking. Limited by the 2.5D pixel art style of the game Cangyuan, he had possessed no real concept of just how powerful the world's top cultivators could truly be. The sheer shock of learning that someone had pierced hundreds of zhang of mountain rock with a single sword sent Xu Yuan's mind racing through countless thoughts. Compared to orthodox immortal cultivation, Xu Yuan had always felt this world was closer to traditional martial fantasy. There were sects, a martial underworld, and an imperial court. Could there really be someone in this world whose sword light could chill nineteen provinces? Yet if someone were truly that strong, wouldn't the Northern God of War in the Great Yan imperial court—the man locked in bitter rivalry with his original body's father—be an utter joke? No matter how miraculously one commanded an army, it could never withstand a casual sword strike from a supreme expert. What dignity or authority would such a God of War possess? While he was lost in thought, the surrounding clouds surged and tumbled with breathtaking speed. When Xu Yuan finally came back to his senses, he realized his upper lip and the tip of his nose were wet. Wiping it with the back of his hand, the bright crimson on his palm made him realize he had actually gotten a nosebleed just from looking directly at the Heavenly Gate. He hurriedly spun around, refusing to look at it any longer. And this turn brought his eyes right to the pale fish-belly dawn breaking in the east. The mists parted. The sunrise atop the peak was breathtaking: the hundred thousand mountains spread out beneath him, and the vast ocean of forest was bathed in blood-red light. The sight stunned Xu Yuan. What was going on? He had only spaced out for a few moments just now—how had noon suddenly turned into dawn? Because he had consumed the Flame Spirit Fluid, he didn't feel hungry, but the stiffness and ache from standing for an extended period began to wake in his limbs. When something beyond comprehension befell him, Xu Yuan instinctively tried to figure out the cause. But after a moment's thought, he realized that now was not the time to dwell on it. His urgent priority was to rendezvous with Ran Qingmo. Since so much time had passed, where was that human glacier? Even the white tiger had only taken most of a day to reach the summit from the mountainside. Now at least a day and a half had passed, yet Ran Qingmo still hadn't arrived? As he pondered, Xu Yuan's heart sank inch by inch. The best-case scenario for the current situation was that, to ensure safety, Ran Qingmo had drawn the pursuers away and simply hadn't shaken them off yet. And the worst... Ran Qingmo's strength was beyond doubt, but at this point in the plot, there were still plenty of people in the world stronger than her. Xu Yuan quickly cut his thoughts short, refusing to let his mind run wild. He was acutely aware of his present predicament. If Ran Qingmo died on the way, unless he could gamble his life on his whopping three points of Luck by jumping off Xuantian Cliff and successfully making it into that cave estate, he might as well pronounce himself dead. If he stayed beside Xuantian Cliff, whether the first to arrive were the people out to kill him or his original body's father's subordinates, he would be a dead man either way. The emergence of Rejection Syndrome had completely cut off many of the retreats Xu Yuan had relied upon. His arrival—nesting in another's body—was not some perfect soul transmigration that transcended the rules of this world; it was rebirth via soul possession, bound by the world's inherent laws. Although rebirth via soul possession was otherwise fairly seamless aside from the Rejection Syndrome that flared up in the initial period, everything had yin and yang. With soul possession having existed in this world for so long, detection methods had naturally been developed. While such methods were nearly lost to history, they did indeed exist. Worst of all, someone among his original body's father's subordinates actually knew how to use them. No one would suspect him without cause, but Xu Yuan was ultimately not Xu Changtian. In front of those truly close to him, it would likely take only moments for them to notice something amiss. Once an abnormality was detected, followed by the full battery of tests, Xu Yuan dared not imagine what his fate would be. There was indeed a method to perfectly fuse the physical body with the soul, and Xu Yuan knew where it was. But that item was in the cave estate beneath Xuantian Cliff. Once that human glacier died, Xu Yuan would have no chance of descending to retrieve it. Taking a deep breath, Xu Yuan forced himself to halt his train of thought, willing his aching body to sit cross-legged on the ground. Thinking any more now was useless. All he could do was wait quietly for the outcome. Hum... hum... The moment he sat down, a slight tremor in the ground made Xu Yuan startle. Looking down, all he could see were tiny pebbles resting quietly on the ground. An illusion? Xu Yuan's eyes flickered, and he gently pressed his palm against the ground. Hum... hum... Faint vibrations through the sand and gravel passed into his fingertips, the tremors growing gradually stronger. Xu Yuan frowned. An earthquake? The thought barely crossed his mind when— Boom! Accompanied by a shockwave of sound, the mountain peak jolted violently. Xu Yuan held his breath instinctively. It wasn't an earthquake—someone was fighting! One second. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Boom—! Another roar arrived alongside the tremor, and this time the entire cliff face seemed to tremble faintly. Xu Yuan clenched his fists tightly, a flicker of uncertainty flashing in his eyes as he looked toward the path he had come from. Time seemed to freeze. Amidst the glaring morning sun rising in the east, a black dot appeared. The black dot expanded rapidly across his field of vision, transforming in an instant into a colossal shadow that eclipsed the morning sun, hurtling toward the mountain peak. Within a single breath, Boom—! Like a fallen meteorite, the massive shadow slammed heavily onto the open ground barely a dozen meters in front of Xu Yuan. The violent impact sent sand and stones flying across the peak, kicking up thick clouds of dust! When the dust cleared, Peering through the gaps between his fingers as he shielded his eyes, Xu Yuan saw the head of a giant python over ten meters tall. And in that golden dawn, Atop that hideous, ferocious serpent head, A graceful figure in black stood with her sword hanging low, her cascade of silky black hair drifting gently in the wind.