Horsing Around

At that moment, a white rabbit appeared out of thin air in Feng Mingge's hand. Everyone turned to look at him. He then tossed the kicking, squirming rabbit outward. In an instant, the rabbit's body was torn apart by light and gravity. Every single atom was ripped asunder, its body disintegrating almost instantaneously before detonating into an enormous burst of energy. Yet to the people present, this explosion of energy was nothing more than a gentle breeze. Yu Xian waved a hand in front of himself to fan away the lingering shockwave, chuckling thoughtfully. "Looks like anyone below the Emptiness Realm who steps foot in here is going to have a rough time." "I suspect the original master of this space must have cultivated a strengthening rule, an amplification rule, or a magnification rule," Niman analyzed. Zhang Shou asked, puzzled, "Is there any difference between those three?" "There's no difference in the ultimate effect, but the method of enhancement differs," Niman explained. "A strengthening rule generally fuses one's own energy directly into the target to make it stronger. An amplification rule generally attaches to the target without fusing into it. A magnification rule distorts the fundamental essence to expand it. Though the end result is the same, their weaknesses are different." Little Nora came to a sudden realization. "I get it! A strengthening rule is like a cake—I can gobble it down in one bite and get stronger. An amplification rule is more like armor—I can only put it on. And a magnification rule is like a magnifying glass—it just enlarges the strength I already had." "That's right. Little Nora is so clever," Niman praised with a smile. Little Nora let out a cheerful giggle and beamed happily. The others grew thoughtful, observing everything around them in an attempt to deduce which rule the creator of this space had used. "No need to bother looking," Feng Mingge said. "This space is entirely self-contained. Even if the creator employed the power of some rule, that power has already fused seamlessly into it. You won't be able to tell." It was precisely because everything here was imbued with the power of a rule that it was so bizarre and unique. Otherwise, with the intrinsic durability of normal matter, it would have long since suffered atomic disintegration like that rabbit. Yu Xian looked toward the peak and said, "Let's get going. If I'm not mistaken, the answer should be atop that mountain." The mountain rose completely straight, resembling a cylindrical tower. Yet because vegetation grew along the cliffside and the rock face appeared entirely natural without any artificial traces, it was deemed a mountain. The group set off toward the mountain, soon experiencing the old adage of running a horse to death chasing a peak in plain sight. "Something isn't right. There's a problem with this space," Feng Mingge was the first to detect an anomaly. He glanced back over his shoulder, then added, "The space here has also been compressed. What looks like a single meter is actually tens of thousands of meters." Gong Qian realized. "No wonder it felt strange. It felt like no matter how much we walked, the distance never shrank." "What if it's purely because your legs are short?" Zhang Shou asked, suppressing a smirk. Gong Qian could tolerate Yu Xian teasing her because Yu Xian was her great benefactor and life's savior, but Zhang Shou had no such privilege. A vein popped on her forehead, and she fired a punch straight at Zhang Shou. Startled, Zhang Shou dodged out of the way just in time, and a boulder seven or eight meters tall not far away was instantly blown to smithereens. "Holy crap!" Zhang Shou couldn't help shouting when he saw the gruesome fate of the boulder. As Gong Qian prepared to strike again, Yu Xian spoke up. "Alright, let's keep moving. But this time, let's speed things up a bit." With that, a Forward Light Shield formed in an instant. Under his control, it rapidly reshaped itself into an enormous golden flying carpet. Only then did Gong Qian huff and let Zhang Shou off the hook. Everyone stepped onto the flying carpet and took their seats, after which the carpet shot toward the peak, picking up tremendous speed in a flash. "I feel like I got scammed. Chi Feihong, are you sure there's treasure here?" Sitting cross-legged on the flying carpet, Yu Xian looked out across the barren, featureless ground, eyeing Chi Feihong with suspicion. Chi Feihong chuckled sheepishly. "Master, heheh, I just thought... there ought to be treasure here. After all, even I found it dangerous." He and Feng Mingge had worked in the Zhen Realm for a thousand years, and in the end each had chosen the power of a rule as their wage. Feng Mingge had chosen the Spatial Rule, while he had chosen the Time Rule. Both of them knew well that these two rules were at the very pinnacle; picking either was sure to be the right choice. Nowadays, not only did Chi Feihong possess terrifying durability, but he also commanded the Time Rule. Places capable of making him feel danger were truly few and far between. "Just because you think so doesn't make it true. What if this space holds no treasure at all, but instead harbors some old ghost who has cultivated for who knows how long?" Feng Mingge looked at Chi Feihong with disdain and spoke in a droll tone. Niman agreed. "We indeed need to be wary of that possibility. If this space has a master, we could very well face a powerful Mighty One." The golden flying carpet was extraordinarily fast. Half an hour later, the group arrived at the foot of the mountain. This mountain was truly sheer. For an ordinary person, climbing it without climbing gear would be utterly impossible, but for Yu Xian and company, scaling it was no difficult task. Everyone walked up along the mountain face, treading upon the cliff as though on flat ground. "Why not just keep flying up on the carpet?" Zhang Shou asked, somewhat puzzled as they walked. Yu Xian replied as if it were obvious, "We did come here to hunt for treasure and have an adventure, after all. Where's the fun if we ride the flying carpet the entire way?" "And trudging up like this in utter boredom is fun?" Zhang Shou countered. Yu Xian thought about it, smacked his forehead, and said with chagrin, "You've got a point. How about a race, then? We all run up together. Whoever comes in last has to go work in the Zhen Realm for a hundred years!" "And what if we win?" Gong Qian asked. Yu Xian grinned. "Win? Then consider yourself impressive." "..." Hearing that, everyone instantly lost all interest. A penalty for losing and no reward for winning—who on earth would want to play? Seeing everyone's morale plummet, Yu Xian sighed. "Fine, fine. First place gets a hundred years knocked off their work debt. Fair enough?" "Now we're talking," Zhang Shou nodded. He truly did intend to go work in the Zhen Realm for Yu Xian for a thousand years. After all, he had felt his own inadequacy and hoped to acquire more rule powers to grow stronger. At the very least, the next time he faced an opponent like Adulam, he wanted to defeat them fair and square rather than having his own strength turned against him and getting cut in half. People like Gong Qian and Nora harbored similar thoughts as well. And so, everyone began preparing. Once they were all lined up, Yu Xian told Nora to raise her gun and signal the start. The instant the gunshot rang out, everyone dashed forward. Nora fired a shot straight toward the mountain's summit, then flashed directly atop the bullet, the tips of her toes lightly affixed to it as she let the bullet carry her along. In a flash, she overtook everyone and seized first place.