From a macroscopic perspective, Between Being and Non-Being was like an old television with no signal—pure static wherever one looked.
Amidst countless tiny black and white dots, a small earthworm crept sluggishly forward. Inside this earthworm was a tiny person, and that person was snoring away.
It was just too boring.
Besides, Between Being and Non-Being was murder on the eyes and the mind. Yu Xian avoided looking as much as possible; there was nothing worth seeing anyway.
Since that was the case, as long as he let instinct take over—actively replenishing his Being-Void and automatically maneuvering it—he could free up his brain and take a nice nap.
"Am I still not dead?"
He had no idea how much time had passed when Yu Xian opened his eyes. Taking in the nauseating sight around him, he muttered to himself.
Having lost his way completely, Yu Xian genuinely believed he would die in Between Being and Non-Being. Once the Being-Void in his body was depleted, his body would perish and his Dao would dissolve.
Pity he couldn't go back and show off to let Zhang Shou see just how badass he had become.
Thinking of Zhang Shou naturally made him think of the others, and worry began creeping into his heart. He wasn't worried about Zhang Shou in the slightest—the bastard died and revived constantly, never dying cleanly.
The others were a different story. Especially Nora and Zhang Buyao. Even though neither liked showing off normally, when they actually fought, they were terrifyingly ferocious. If they got locked in a fight to the death with Quan Juehua, he genuinely feared something terrible might happen to them.
His heart burned to return home, but he had no way to find the path, leaving him stranded here waiting for death instead.
Man proposes, God disposes, as they said.
"Fuck!"
"Why the hell isn't there GPS in Between Being and Non-Being?!"
Thinking of his friends and family back in the Tree Universe, Yu Xian couldn't hold back a curse.
Yet the second after he finished cursing, the tip of a branch from the Tree Universe poked out. His eyes lit up at once. He was back—he was actually back!
Hell yeah!
Earthworm Beast, charge!
Yu Xian willed the Being-Void in his body forward, darting toward the tip of the branch. The moment Being-Void collided with Being-Void, he slipped directly inside. But then, the excitement on his face gradually faded, leaving him standing dumbfounded on the spot, utterly numb.
This was yet another branch severed by Quan Juehua. And except for the spot where he stood, the surroundings were completely packed with shit!!!!
Who took such a monstrous dump that it completely crammed the entire branch? Should he absorb it or not?
In theory, if he didn't want to die, his best bet was to absorb all the Being-Void in this branch.
The problem was that this branch was sickeningly vile—it was literally filled to the brim with feces. Only where he stood was a cleared, vacuum stretch. And that vacuum strip was rather peculiar: it extended straight into the distance, so straight it looked as if it had been cleaved by a blade.
"Old Zhang, ah, Old Zhang... Could this be our brotherhood's curse? You ate Forbidden Fruit splashed with piss, and now I have to absorb Being-Void smeared with shit..."
Yu Xian took a step back into his little earthworm space, lamenting inwardly.
He had to get back. Never mind that he was only extracting the Being-Void, and the disgust was purely psychological—in reality, he wouldn't physically touch any of the crap. But even if he truly had to touch it, or even eat it, he still had to get back.
To get back, there was nothing he wouldn't do.
A few minutes later, the "earthworm" departed, leaving behind a massive pile of unspeakable matter that was rapidly annihilated by Between Being and Non-Being. It was quite possibly the largest single heap of unspeakable filth that Between Being and Non-Being had ever annihilated.
Go back.
I must go back.
I'm going to slaughter that son of a bitch Quan Juehua!
Cross-legged within the Being-Void, flames burned in Yu Xian's eyes as his fighting spirit surged.
Having acquired a sufficiently immense amount of Being-Void, he pushed straight in the direction from which the branch had drifted. Theoretically, after being severed, a branch would slowly drift outward, meaning behind it had to be the direction of the Tree Universe.
Although... this deduction was crude and made no sense at all.
Still, Yu Xian truly had no better option. It was slightly more sensible than having no reference point at all.
In fact, as long as he had enough Being-Void, Yu Xian's travel speed could be extraordinarily fast. Provided he wasn't afraid of consumption, Being-Void could stretch forward to the maximum extent, allowing him to teleport through its interior and reach speeds close to the speed of light.
Of course.
Doing so depleted Being-Void at a rapid rate. After all, it was the same old theory: the faster you ran in the rain, the more rain you caught.
Yet as he raced along, Yu Xian lost his way once more. After all, Between Being and Non-Being wasn't a flat sheet of paper with only straight lines to follow; it was a spaceless realm packed with infinite black and white dots.
This meant Yu Xian's Being-Void earthworm wasn't just constantly being annihilated—it was also being contaminated by Omni-Being particles. All kinds of chaotic matter kept intruding into the Being-Void, forcing Yu Xian to divert part of his focus to kick them out.
It was manageable at first, but over time, without any reference markers whatsoever, losing his way became inevitable.
"Where the hell... am I now?"
Yu Xian stopped, looking around in bewilderment.
He felt he ought to keep thrusting forward, but after all the jostling and navigating, he had long ceased travelling in a straight line. Across such staggering distances, he might well have veered off at an angle without realizing it.
It was like a blindfolded person trying to walk a straight line, only to discover they had walked in a giant circle.
Yu Xian strongly suspected that this had happened to him. What if he had looped around and was actually moving further away from the Tree Universe?
"If I'm lucky enough to stumble across another branch of the Tree Universe next time, I have to leave a piece behind as a marker. That way, even if I accidentally loop back, seeing it will let me turn around in time," Yu Xian reflected.
Pondering for a moment, he sighed and pressed forward.
There was no alternative.
Things had already reached this point; turning back was out of the question. He could only press onward with single-minded resolve.
During his prior battle with Zhang Shou, Quan Juehua had severed countless branches without meaning to. Consequently, severed branches were drifting away from the Tree Universe in many directions, gradually pushed further into the distance by the particles in Between Being and Non-Being.
To some extent, Zhang Shou had lent Yu Xian one final helping hand before dying. Otherwise, Yu Xian very likely would have been lost in Between Being and Non-Being forever.
Again, he lost track of time.
Yu Xian's earthworm crept forward and encountered yet another branch.
In fact, apart from beings like Transcenders, Unity Returners, and Origin Returners, the visibility for any other living entity in Between Being and Non-Being was zero, and line-of-sight distance was likewise zero.
Take Yu Xian: the only range he could see was the extent to which his Being-Void reached. Outside lay a realm packed with infinite black and white dots. There were only black and white dots, with no way to see what lay beyond them—though anyone with a head on their shoulders knew that beyond the black and white dots were simply more black and white dots.
Yet being unable to see didn't mean there was no way to observe what lay further out.
For instance, Yu Xian's method was to project his mental energy outward, accompanied by a trace of invisible Being-Void. Since mental energy was invisible and Being-Void was also invisible, it was essentially a cluster of energy that nobody could see.
Once this energy detached from the earthworm, it radiated outward. If it collided with anything before being annihilated, Yu Xian could sense it. It was equivalent to having a pair of eyes that could perceive much further.
Without this trick, he truly would have been as blind as an earthworm.
Moreover, this was an indispensable method that allowed him to survey a broader area, ensuring he wouldn't brush right past the Tree Universe, while also letting him "see" further and locate more branches.
Chapter 741