After concluding his discussion with Lan Shengu and his sister, Chen Chuan chatted with them a bit more about Center City. Having finished a cup of tea, he took his leave of the two. As he walked across the plaza, he turned his head to look at the former site of the Ferris Wheel. It had now become an office building for Yuanren Corporation, though this was merely a temporary office site; their true headquarters was located in Hongsheng District and remained under construction.
Just then, he noticed a family of three standing on the old site of the Ferris Wheel, taking photos. A little boy sat perched on his father's shoulders, laughing merrily. A passerby happened to walk past, and the boy's mother stepped forward to ask for a favor. The passerby took the camera, and the woman hurried over to clasp her husband's arm. Embracing each other with their backs to the sea, the family posed for a joyful photograph.
That captured moment would perhaps become a treasured memory for their entire lives, something they could bring out in old age to show their children and grandchildren.
Chen Chuan smiled faintly, turned, and walked away. Getting into his car, he drove out of the plaza and made his way back to the villa.
That evening, he had dinner with his aunt's family and sat with them for a while watching city broadcasts before taking his items and entering his private meditation chamber.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he opened the box, took out a piece of Six-Yang Gold, and placed it before him. As he infused his spirit power into it, the piece began to melt and dissolve, being absorbed between his brows.
Having grown familiar with the melting process, he progressed faster than before. In just half an hour, he had absorbed one portion, followed by a second, then a third...
Only this time, he did not melt down all the Six-Yang Gold he had received, stopping when there were still two pieces remaining.
By this point, he could clearly sense that even if he added these remaining two pieces, it would still fall far short of filling the void within.
Though he knew he could wait or try gathering more through other channels, that was too slow and consumed too much time—it could take a month, two months, or perhaps even longer.
Moreover, continuously collecting Six-Yang Gold like this would inevitably leave traces and draw the attention of certain individuals or factions.
In that case, he had to find a solution on his own.
Fortunately, the Xuejun Saber had already awakened from its slumber. He stood up, walked over to the weapon rack, and slowly drew the saber from its sheath. Holding the hilt horizontally before him, he brushed a hand lightly along the spine of the blade. As if sensing his will and intentions, the Xuejun Saber gave a faint tremor.
Gripping the hilt with both hands, he walked to the center of the area where an esoteric ritual circle had been drawn beforehand, and slashed down at the empty air ahead!
In an instant, a glowing fissure cracked open before his eyes, and the radiance spilling from within illuminated him and the entire space in brilliant light.
He gazed intently at the fissure. When he was at the third limit, suppressed by the Ring of the World, he could only cut open a tiny crack. But now, neither he nor the Xuejun Saber was what they used to be.
With this slash, the severed fissure was like the very first one he had ever opened, revealing a gap taller than a man that was not immediately forced shut.
Although he could see that under the influence of the Ring of the World, the fissure began shrinking continuously from the moment it appeared, it was wide enough that maintaining it for a few hours would be no problem.
With a flourish of his saber, he stepped inside. What met his eyes was a sea of boundless white light; beyond that, almost nothing could be seen, seemingly no different from his previous visits.
However, once he arrived here, his second self showed distinct signs of blurring into insubstantiality, and at every moment he could feel the omnipresent erosion.
He did not use the fire of spirituality to resist, for that would be like holding up a torch in the dark, announcing his presence to everyone.
Just like entering the depths of the Confluence, in this perilous realm, he was both hunter and prey.
He glanced back; the fissure had shrunk a fraction compared to before.
Back when there was a gap in the Ring of the World, as long as an anchor or tether existed outside, he could find his way back even if the fissure completely closed. But things were different now. Once the fissure shut completely, he might not be able to locate his original point of origin accurately. Even if he did not stray too far, if a fissure opened up out in the open, that would cause massive problems.
Therefore, his operational time was limited. Furthermore, he could not stay here for long; the pervasive erosion constantly wore at him, and without sufficient resilience, one truly risked being corrupted into mutation.
He looked around. The radiance was so dazzling that, outwardly, nothing seemed to exist besides the light, to say nothing of searching for anything specific.
Yet he understood that this was simply a matter of perception. If one observed this place the way one observed the material world, this was all one would ever see.
Fixing his gaze ahead, a faint light flickered between his eyebrows. In mere moments, the entire world before his eyes transformed.
The blinding glare receded swiftly, revealing countless multicolored objects all around him. In appearance, they resembled plants, yet all radiated brilliant luster—luster that was not ethereal, but seemingly condensed into physical form, like clusters and facets of crystals.
Although this was the other side of the Ring of the World, it was actually extremely close to the boundary between the two realms. Material and spiritual converged here, so most things existing in this place were somewhere in between. Yet precisely because of this, certain things could be accepted by both sides.
However, these things were inherently unstable; one moment they seemed to be right there, and a moment later they would vanish.
Some endured for quite a long time, while others flashed out of existence in an instant—so fleeting that he could hardly register the full process, only sensing through his spirit that something had once been there.
This could not help but remind him of what Mr. Mask had said about Six-Yang Gold; it was very likely something similar.
If so, he might as well try searching around first.
Holding his saber, he strode forward. What followed was a monotonous landscape, yet the things within it were completely distinct from one another. Hardly any two were identical; even objects that appeared superficially similar were fundamentally different.
It was not as though there were no "living creatures" here, but their manifestations were exceedingly peculiar—appearing merely as shadowy silhouettes or drifting filaments. Yet whenever they encountered him and sensed the light shining from between his eyebrows, they would take the initiative to steer clear.
After walking continuously for three or four hours without spotting what he was looking for, he felt little disappointment. This excursion was primarily a scouting mission to observe and acclimate to the environment; he had not expected to succeed on his first try.
Estimating that the fissure was close to closing, he hurried back, stepping through just before it sealed shut. First, he cast a glance around the room.
During his absence, things had indeed slipped through. Once such entities entered the material world, they assumed different forms—such as strange insects. A fair number of them now dotted the floor, held at bay by the esoteric ritual circle he had laid out. Many were scurrying across the floor or fluttering about, desperately searching for a way out.
Chen Chuan glanced over them. A flash of sun-like radiance flared briefly from his body, and the insects instantly turned into puffs of black smoke. Other, even tinier entities drifting in the air—barely perceptible to the naked eye—were purified along with them, leaving behind only wisps of smoke.
Allowing the fissure behind him to slowly close, he walked over to the cushion in the center and sat down, contemplating what to do next.
Searching aimlessly like this offered no leads; it was like fishing for a needle in the sea.
Information regarding this realm was tightly suppressed by higher authorities, which was understandable given the security implications.
Therefore, he had to figure it out himself. Fortunately, he was not entirely without clues. For instance, why were martial artists of the Visage of the Divine able to discover such things?
Was it because the range of their spirit roaming was vast enough?
Not necessarily. As far as he knew, martial artists of the Visage of the Divine actually could not wander about indiscriminately for their cultivation; they needed to hold fast to a familiar anchor. Doing so meant they had little time to go hunting for such things.
Mr. Mask had told him that things like Six-Yang Gold were everywhere over there, and bringing them back was seemingly a simple matter—one just could not bring back too much at once.
Everywhere, was it...?
Reflecting on the nature of the spirit realm, he suddenly hit upon a possibility.
He felt this was very likely a matter of differing fields.
Both Hongfu and Mother could project fields that were nearly indistinguishable from reality; standing within their fields was like being in entirely different worlds.
This was because of their formidable spirit power. In the world across the rift, anything capable of sustaining its own existence had to possess its own field—a fact corroborated by what he had just observed.
Such objects might not possess vast fields like Mother or Hongfu, but they formed distinct, localized micro-fields of their own. When they could no longer sustain them, they entered that vanishing state.
Was Six-Yang Gold the same?
If so, how should he search for it?
An idea swiftly surfaced in his mind. Turning his gaze to the two remaining pieces of Six-Yang Gold beside his hand, he decided it was worth a try.
He cleared away the remnants on the floor and inspected the esoteric ritual circle once more. After confirming there were no breaches, he replenished himself with some high-energy nutrients, picked up the Xuejun Saber, and slashed open another fissure leading to the other side.
Placing a piece of Six-Yang Gold in his pocket, he crossed through the fissure with saber in hand. Checking his surroundings to ensure all was clear, he brought the piece out and held it on his palm.
It had been resting there intact, but after a short while, without warning or any perceptible sign, he discovered that the Six-Yang Gold in his palm had abruptly vanished.
Yet right at the instant it vanished, the light between his eyebrows flickered faintly, seemingly catching onto something.
Chapter 937