Chapter 426: Penetration

The curtain of rain stretched on, seeming even more cold and dreary than usual. Disordered winds blew between the buildings, rolling up threads of rain into chaotic swirls. In the distance, neon lights were blurred into large patches of indistinct color, shimmering with illusory radiance that blurred the line between reality and illusion.

The black-awning boats and mechanical flower boats floating among the pavilions and towers received navigation warnings from the Control Department and pulled over one after another to the nearest buildings, taking shelter from the weather that was about to worsen further—an alert stated that a mass of cold air was moving south from the wilderness and would transform into a cyclone near the Refining Tower, bringing a storm to the entire city.

Through the wide window, Xuanche could feel the restlessness brewing in the air outside.

Something had sensed it... sensed that there was an incongruous “gaze” present in the city.

Xuanche composed himself, his expression calm, and looked at Mo Ran, the city lord sitting across from him.

Mo Ran wore a smile as she reported to him on the city of Mo’s recent renovation and reuse projects for the surrounding Refining Towers, and occasionally turned her head to converse with the invisible “Guardian Elder Daoheng” in the air.

Ten minutes ago, a servant had entered the room and paid respects to “Elder Daoheng.”

Xuanche showed no signs of abnormality.

His spiritual sense swept through the room once more, through the entire city lord’s mansion.

Mo Ran bore no hostility. No one here bore any hostility. They were not those “black-robed cultivators”—even if Mo Ran harbored ill intentions, she wouldn’t resort to such a ridiculous performance using an “invisible Star Guardian.”

Clearly, there was something wrong with everyone’s perception here.

Xuanche continued to placate her for a while longer, then found an excuse and took his leave without revealing anything unusual.

Mo Ran and “Elder Daoheng” escorted him all the way to the mansion’s entrance.

“A great storm will soon hit the city,” Mo Ran said, glancing at the street that now held few pedestrians. She turned to Xuanche and bowed slightly. “If the Immortal Envoy is not in a hurry, I can arrange a celestial vessel.”

“No need. A little wind and rain offer a different experience,” Xuanche replied with a cupped-fist salute. “Such weather is rare in Taixu Lingshu, and I’d like to stroll through the city. Thank you for your hospitality today, City Lord Mo. Please, no need to see me off.”

They parted, and Xuanche stepped out of the city lord’s protective formation. The wind and rain outside surged toward him like a pack of beasts scenting prey, only to be instantly blocked by his protective spiritual energy, swirling and dissipating around him. Only a trace of cold air seeped through, sharpening his mind instead.

He walked deeper into the curtain of rain. His steps seemed slow but were actually fast; in moments, he had traversed several blocks.

A few pedestrians in straw rain capes and bamboo hats hurried across the street. One of them muttered about how abnormal the sudden weather change was, while another comforted him, saying the weather in the city of Mo had always been like this, that heavy rains every few days were most common this month.

A drunkard staggered out of a nearby tavern. The cold wind and rain on the street made him stumble as soon as he stepped out. He looked up at the sky, cursed under his breath, and started walking forward, his barely maintained protective spiritual energy flickering unsteadily in the wind and rain. Only when Xuanche drew closer did he hear the drunkard mumbling, “...Just went in for a drink... when did it start raining? Lousy luck... wonder how many will skip work at the mine tomorrow...”

Xuanche sidestepped the drunkard without a sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black-awning boat decorated with flower lanterns and surrounded by shifting colors drifting low between two nearby buildings. From the boat came faint singing, and a young woman in a gauze skirt stood at the prow. She seemed completely oblivious to the intensifying wind and rain, with no intention of mooring the boat near a building.

Xuanche narrowed his eyes slightly.

The rain didn’t seem to fall on the gauze-clad woman, nor on the black-awning boat.

He reached into his bosom and took out the Lingxi Mirror.

The Lingxi Mirror had received a message from Garrison-3. In the message, Mr. Yu mentioned that eerie crystal forest, the circumstances of Yun Qingzi’s fall a thousand years ago, and the truth buried deep underground.

The unknown Dark Angel had the property of parasitizing planets. Garrison-3 was the first victim, Shuji was the second, and “Its” next target was likely Taixu Lingshu.

Now, the Dark Angel might still be hiding somewhere on Shuji. Meanwhile, there should also be a “Yun Qingzi copy” under Its control hiding on this very planet. Those black-robed cultivators directed by “Yun Qingzi” had likely already been transformed into the Dark Angel’s “minions.”

As for those Hermetic Society followers hiding in even deeper shadows... they might not have designs on Taixu Lingshu, but they would certainly act when the Dark Angel became active again...

Xuanche finished scanning these messages quickly. Without revealing anything, he sent a mental probe into the Lingxi Mirror, transmitting his own observations and conjectures back to his sect, as well as to his Senior Uncle, who remained on “Huixian Prefecture,” and to Mr. Yu, who had not yet returned from Garrison-3.

...

“The ‘Star Guardian’ of Shuji is likely deceased, possibly missing for decades. From the records I accessed in the city lord’s mansion, Elder Daoheng only had relatively close exchanges and normal personal correspondence with the major cities of Shuji right after taking office; afterward, he quickly became reclusive...

“In the records, the ‘Star Guardian’s’ performance of duties was very regular, almost too regular. Aside from the activities necessary for a Guardian Elder, the archives of the city of Mo contain almost no mention of any other matters concerning ‘Elder Daoheng.’

“Mo Ran herself is lucid and converses normally. The problem lies in her perception.

“Everyone’s perception is off. Everyone.”

True Man Yuan Hao frowned, staring at the newly received message from Xuanche on the Lingxi Mirror. He fell into thought.

After a moment, he walked over to the window and pushed it open casually.

The wind and rain from outside surged in but were instantly blocked by the protective barrier built into the hotel building, leaving only a trace of damp chill blowing into the room.

On colony planets carved out of the wilderness, most buildings had this kind of built-in environmental protection design. It was a sort of “special tradition” for many frontier planets—though in most cases, the barrier’s strength was only enough to block wind and rain and temperature extremes.

True Man Yuan Hao gazed into the rain curtain for a while, then pulled two... bricks from his bosom, jade-white and smooth. He tossed them casually out the window.

Zheng Zhi, who had been scrolling through short videos on his phone nearby, looked up just in time to see this and nearly jumped out of his skin, momentarily thinking that this handsome immortal was also a litterer—but then the two square objects flew back up in the rainy night, their surfaces shimmering with spiritual light, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

True Man Yuan Hao watched the two flying “bricks,” his expression growing even more grave.

“Daoist Zheng,” the old handsome man suddenly turned his head, looking at Zheng Zhi, who was sitting up from the sofa. “Come look into the distance, toward that Refining Tower... is there anything unusual? I feel something is wrong, but I can’t see through what’s happening over there.”

Zheng Zhi, puzzled, got up and walked over to the window, staring outward.

His gaze pierced through the hazy curtain of rain, focusing for a long time.

Then his eyes suddenly widened.

Pale, eerie crystalline matter mixed with gray-black, like enormous, indescribable “branches,” rose from the end of the city, now coiled around that Refining Tower—and the Refining Tower itself had become a mass of pitch-black shadow at some point, like... a rift that pierced both sky and earth, slashing vertically across the city’s edge.

They hadn’t just appeared.

They seemed to have been there all along.

Zheng Zhi was startled and unconsciously stepped back two paces. But just as he was about to tell True Man Yuan Hao what he had seen, the terrifying scene at the end of the rain curtain vanished again.

Yet his abnormal behavior had already caught True Man Yuan Hao’s attention.

“Daoist Zheng, what did you see?”

“A massive structure like tree branches, coiled around that Refining Tower—looked like some kind of crystal...”

Zheng Zhi licked his lips, still shaken, and said. But the moment his words fell, a sudden chill ran through him.

It was as if an invisible gaze that had been blindly patrolling sensed his existence and cast a dreadful glance in his direction.

“It” had seen him.

The next moment, a sudden change occurred!

The storm that had been warned of arrived. The rain curtain outside turned into a furious downpour in an instant. Cold winds howled, and the dense rain slashed like blades, easily tearing through the thin protective barrier of the Huixian Prefecture building.

Wind and rain rushed into the living room. Everything near the windows was instantly drenched, and the rain seemed to carry a strange, devouring, dissolving power. Everything it touched began to disappear into the air as if cut or gouged by invisible blades—but then, as if nothing had happened, they restored themselves, and even the wind and rain that had surged into the room recoiled and flew back out the window.

The street outside disappeared and reappeared. The towering buildings were erased at the waist, then instantly restored. A mechanical flower boat flew crookedly out of the rain curtain, warning lights flashing on both sides of its hull. The massive vessel crashed into the roof of a nearby tavern, sending up astonishing waves like a stone falling into water—in the waves, flowers bloomed wildly, and the flower boat flew backward, restored to pristine condition.

Music from string and woodwind instruments drifted from the flower boat. Graceful dancers twirled in the windows. A terrified young woman appeared on the ship’s railing, seemingly about to leap from that boat that had just crashed, but before True Man Yuan Hao could act, the entire vessel had vanished into the wind and rain.

The entire city began to emit a low rumble, like that of a great beast about to awaken.

“Perceptual barrier?” True Man Yuan Hao’s face was ashen. Then he whirled around to look at Zheng Zhi. “Daoist Zheng...”

Beside him was empty. Zheng Zhi’s figure had already disappeared from the room.

(End of chapter)