Chapter 404: The Rift... Disappeared?

Xuan Che naturally noticed the subtle change in Mo Ran's expression. He understood the Border City Lord's mood quite well.

"Ahem, roughly speaking, that's the situation," he coughed lightly to get her attention. "From what I know, the recent demonic deviations and disappearances among cultivators have all been concentrated in Ink City. There have been few reports from other regions of Shu Ji. So, if the one behind all this really is that 'Yun Qingzi,' there must be something he cares about in this city... In any case, he must have a reason for making this his target."

"But what could Ink City possibly have that would warrant the attention of such an ancient powerhouse?" Mo Ran frowned deeply, her tone grave. After a moment's contemplation, she shook her head. "Ink City is the largest city on Shu Ji, but its only claim to fame was once having the largest spirit ore mine on the planet. Now those veins have long since dried up. There's nothing special in terms of blessed lands or spirit treasures... Could it be that he's after the abandoned mine pits?"

Xuan Che frowned too. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head. "We have no way of knowing that for now. But 'Yun Qingzi' has grand designs and has likely been lurking and scheming on the border for centuries. Anything he does in the short term is probably just a small piece of a much longer and larger plan—including what's been happening in Ink City recently."

Mo Ran listened, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. Xuan Che paused after speaking, then continued, "Rest assured, something this important won't leave Ink City to face it alone. The Grand Void Spirit Hub is also making preparations. As soon as our investigation here makes progress or Yun Qingzi's whereabouts are discovered, support from the capital planet will arrive instantly.

"Moreover, I'll later contact the Planet Guardian Elder of Shu Ji—it's suspicious that a Guardian Elder was completely unaware of such a massive threat lurking on their own planet."

Mo Ran seemed to relax at this, nodding slightly with a soft "Mm."

Xuan Che, as if suddenly recalling something, asked offhandedly, "Speaking of the Planet Guardian Elder, if I'm not mistaken, the one guarding Shu Ji is... Elder Dao Heng? I don't know much about him, only that he was originally a master from the 'Heavenly Derivation Sect.' Later, following the Immortal Alliance's decree, he was jointly nominated by Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain and Nether Valley to be the Star Guardian here. How has he been performing in this role?"

"Just as you said, Elder Dao Heng was assigned here by the Immortal Alliance a hundred years ago to guard this planet on behalf of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain and Nether Valley," Mo Ran nodded. "Over the past century, Elder Dao Heng has been diligent and dedicated, protecting this star and earning the respect of all parties.

"In addition, Elder Dao Heng keeps a low profile. Apart from his duties as 'Star Guardian,' he rarely involves himself in mundane affairs and seldom appears in public. Especially in the last twenty or thirty years, when Shu Ji has been very peaceful—the satellite cities on neighboring planets and orbital cities have also been stable. So his public appearances have become even fewer. Of course, by 'fewer appearances,' I mean strictly in public. He still regularly attends the routine city meetings and planetary defense briefings."

"Any anomalies?"

"None."

"Hmm..." Xuan Che stroked his chin thoughtfully, his face showing contemplation. Just then, a faint buzzing sound interrupted his train of thought.

He casually reached into his robe and pulled out a glowing Spirit Connection Mirror—a new message was displayed on it. The sender was Yu Sheng.

Xuan Che immediately straightened up and tapped to open the message.

The content made his expression turn serious in an instant.

Mo Ran, seeing this, grew tense as well. "Your Excellency the Envoy looks so grave... Has something else happened?"

Xuan Che read the message, thought for a moment, then looked up at the City Lord across from him. "First, sit tight."

Mo Ran: "..."

The sky might be falling.

But Xuan Che wasn't about to spoil her. Seeing that the City Lord had steadied herself, he cleared his throat:

"My elder martial uncle went with someone to investigate the outskirts and was attacked by black-robed cultivators under Yun Qingzi at the edge of Ink City. They were numerous and brought a large number of trained demon beasts, along with an unknown external-aligned expert—a heretic from the Sublime Sanctuary Cult. Incidentally, a massive spatial fold was discovered at the scene, its range currently incalculable. Two celestial foxes from the Grand Void Spirit Hub were also attacked, one in critical condition, but fortunately they were rescued—"

He paused mid-sentence as he saw the City Lord's eyes going blank. He casually pulled out a medicine gourd from his robe, popped out a pill, and flicked it directly into her mouth before continuing: "—Fortunately, the rescue was timely..."

To be fair, the rescue was indeed very timely. The moment the pill entered her stomach, Mo Ran jolted back from the brink of a shattered Dao heart.

The sky had finished falling.

Xuan Che saw this and sighed softly. He then glanced at the newly received message again and adjusted his sitting position on the chair. "Next, let's talk about the Sublime Sanctuary Cult... The cultist who appeared on the outskirts was at least a 'Sage,' possibly even a 'Grand Sage.'"

Mo Ran: "..."

It wasn't over yet. The sky was still falling, sustainably.

---

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, flashing through the rainy night. Thunder rumbled, echoing endlessly between heaven and earth.

Yu Sheng looked up at the overcast, rain-shrouded sky and felt something was off—nine parts out of ten, at least.

At this moment, he was standing on a new fox tail, floating at the site where he had fought the cultist earlier. Beside him was Yuanhao Zhenren, who had finally freed up—the latter was hovering in midair on a chainsaw sword, its roar buzzing in the air.

"This is where I pushed the 'door' open earlier," Yu Sheng reached out and felt the air in front of him, frowning as he turned back. "But now the 'feel' is gone."

Yuanhao Zhenren was holding a glowing white brick-like object, scanning the air back and forth like a demon-detecting mirror. He turned his head at the words. "The space here is very calm. No hidden secret realm entrance or spatial fold has been found. Fellow Daoist Zheng also observed it from the ground just now—there's indeed nothing unusual."

"But that doesn't make sense. Earlier, I opened such a huge passageway," Yu Sheng said incredulously. "You must have seen it too, right? The sky seemed to collapse, turning into a tilted mirror surface, all full of cracks—the scene beyond the cracks looked like another hidden world, quite spectacular."

"Mm, while I was busy treating Shang'an at the time, I did witness that spectacular vision in the sky," Yuanhao Zhenren nodded. "Based on what we saw, there should indeed be another space hidden here... And a 'secret realm' of that scale—after you broke such a large opening in it, it shouldn't be able to simply hide itself again."

Yu Sheng's brows remained tightly furrowed. He said nothing more, but steered the fox tail beneath him and flew to several other positions in the sky to examine the situation.

Yuanhao Zhenren followed him on his chainsaw sword, holding the brick and continuing to scan around.

On the ground, the two Elins looked up, watching the two silhouettes circling in the sky. After a long moment, they couldn't help blurting out in unison: "This aesthetic is seriously messed up."

Zheng Zhi blinked beside them. "Huh?"

"One riding a fox tail, one riding a chainsaw sword, flying in circles in the sky... Ah, you wouldn't understand," Elin (Pika) waved her hand impatiently mid-sentence. "No, when I get back, I'm going to play more games, read more novels, and watch more dramas to cleanse my eyes. These two have destroyed my last fantasies about xianxia..."

"Replacing reality with fantasy is not right," Hu Li, on the other side, said seriously to the little puppet. "Maybe you should lay off that junk to protect your brain."

Elin immediately put her hands on her hips, speaking with absolute conviction: "I don't even have a brain, so why should I care?"

Her words made everyone around fall silent. Even Hu Li didn't know how to respond. A few seconds later, Luna, who had been in standby mode, suddenly seemed to reboot, lifting her head and slowly blurting out: "Mm, right."

Elin thought for a moment—C-type seemed to be up to no good this time, but before she could figure it out, two streaks of light flashed before her eyes—Yu Sheng on his fox tail and Yuanhao Zhenren on his chainsaw sword were descending from the sky.

For an instant, the little puppet forgot what she had been thinking and happily ran toward Yu Sheng. "Hey! You're finally down!"

This time, Yu Sheng dodged Elin (Pika)'s lightning-charged charge, casually grabbing the fox tail beside him to block the little electric-ball-like creature still crackling with electricity. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and sighed. "I'm down—unfortunately, I couldn't find that rift from before."

Elin was initially angry about being blocked midair by Yu Sheng, but when she heard his words, she froze before she could even protest. "Huh? There's a door you can't open?!"

"It's not the first time—this world always has some strange incidents I can't deal with," Yu Sheng spread his hands. "Besides, you saw what was behind those rifts. That was obviously not just a simple hidden space—the scale was much larger than the space the Sublime Sanctuary Cult opened up to hide the 'Pillar of Order'... I suspect there's some new concealment or teleportation mechanism I haven't figured out yet."

Elin listened, blinking blankly. Though she didn't really understand, she was quite adept at the "listened but didn't get it" situation. She put on a thoughtful expression, pretending to ponder for a few seconds, then looked up: "Ah, so what now?"

"What now? First, head back. There's no point in staying here in the rain," Yu Sheng waved his hand, then turned to glance at the gloomy sky in the distance and the towering ancient refining tower. After a moment's silence, he let out a breath. "Now we've got a ton of new clues, but the whole thing has become even more confusing. I need to go back and think things through. Also..."

As he spoke, he withdrew his gaze and looked in front of him.

Elin (Rebar) had also come running out of the abandoned factory and stood before him.

This one, who had just fallen into a mud pit, was now soaked by the rain. If anything, the mud hadn't washed off much; she looked even more bedraggled. But she seemed to have forgotten all about it, standing there with an air of pride.

She always seemed so proud.

"...And I need to give you a good wash. You're getting pretty ripe."