Chapter 34: Successful Replication, Controllable Passage!

With the door slamming shut, the faint starlight from the distant void faded from Yu Sheng's eyes—it took a full half minute for him to recover from that momentary shock, and then he let out a long breath, breaking into a belated cold sweat.

After opening the door, there was no guarantee it would lead to some foreign realm or a "location" on a planet—there was even a certain probability of stepping directly into outer space?

The randomness and range of this "door" far exceeded Yu Sheng's imagination!

At that moment, Yu Sheng even felt a surge of relief—he was grateful that the first time he had accidentally opened the "door," he had stepped into a foreign realm rather than opening it into the deep void of space. If he had been that unlucky back then, he simply couldn't imagine what would have happened.

In the worst-case scenario, he might have been trapped in a harsh outer-space environment, undergoing a rapid and unending process of death and rebirth, perhaps without even a chance to maintain clear thought, let alone the opportunity to grope his way to mastering the ability to open the door amid that swift, continuous death—even if he miraculously held on, or luckily stumbled into opening a door back to the surface, it would have been an absolutely horrific experience.

Once his pounding heart finally calmed, Yu Sheng immediately began analyzing the new information he had just gained from opening the door.

When the door had opened, he hadn't felt the terrifying "suction" of the vacuum on the other side, nor had he seemed to feel the cold that outer space ought to have.

But in previous instances when he opened the door, he could both hear sounds from the other side and feel some environmental effects—like the scorching air on that barren planet.

Why was that? Did the "door" itself possess some kind of filtration? When the disparity between the two sides was too great, did it actively block that part of the effect? Or did "outer space" itself have some special property, being a kind of "coordinate" that could only be seen but never truly reached? Or maybe... what he had just seen wasn't actually real outer space, but some other "foreign realm" that only looked like a starry sky...

Yu Sheng pondered, then turned to look at Irene in the oil painting.

Irene hesitated as she looked back. "Still going? That last one seemed to startle you..."

Yu Sheng closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they held only determination.

"Keep going."

Once more, he grasped the door handle, but this time more cautiously. He focused more intently on that subtle, delicate "spiritual guidance," while simultaneously trying to recall the feeling he had when he had successfully opened the door on previous occasions, attempting... to replicate a certain passage.

He slowly opened the door. On the other side was an ordinary-looking scene—it appeared to be a barren shoreline.

It wasn't any door he had ever opened before.

Then he tried again and again, opening the door over and over, searching for the path that would lead him back to Hu Li.

Or any other passage he could replicate—as long as it let him grasp the pattern of opening the door.

And amid this constant experimentation, at one point a fleeting thought crossed Yu Sheng's mind—would there be a door, on the other side of which lay the familiar "hometown" in his memory?

He remembered that he had come to this "Boundary City" after pushing open his door and leaving home one morning. Though he had no clear evidence, he was increasingly suspicious that had been his first real "door opening."

It was just that he hadn't been aware of it at the time.

So, would he, one day while opening the door in the future, push it open and see the home of his memories?

Yu Sheng forcibly suppressed that sudden rising thought. He knew he had more pressing matters to attend to. Going home... he would set it aside as a hope buried deep in his heart for now.

Door after door opened. Spectacular, ordinary, bizarre and grotesque, even... bustling and lively.

Countless distant worlds rushed toward him in each brief opening and closing, then slammed shut. And amid this repetitive process, Yu Sheng suddenly had a wondrous feeling.

This world... indeed, it wasn't just Boundary City.

Outside this enormous city, which seemed to be some kind of special "boundary junction," was such boundless vastness.

So many landscapes, so many mysteries, so many strange and diverse faraway places—each time he opened the door, with every casual push and pull.

He wasn't trapped inside this city.

Irene seemed to be getting excited too. Though Yu Sheng didn't know what the doll in the painting was so excited about, as she watched the scenery outside the door with him, she was clearly getting more and more enthusiastic.

Unable to move, she started commenting on each scene from the side—

"That mountain is so tall! There's something glowing on it—are we going to check it out someday?"

"The ocean! Such a huge fish!"

"Wow! It's all snow, but it's pale blue... doesn't look like a place teeming with life..."

"...A toilet. Let's go, let's go."

"...Whoa, there's a ghost!"

The doll never stayed quiet, babbling about everything she saw on the other side. At first, Yu Sheng found it a bit noisy, but gradually, Irene's ever-surprising exclamations turned into a bit of entertainment during the tedious "testing" process.

Then, just as he was about to open the door again, he suddenly felt a stir in his heart, like when you're tuning an old-fashioned rotary capacitor radio to a very narrow band and finally "hit" the right frequency. He sensed a passage he had opened before—not that valley full of hunger, but a door he had indeed opened.

Yu Sheng seized that feeling. Then, for the first time, he actively controlled his "spiritual guidance," with no technique, relying purely on instinct, steering toward that familiar passage—

He carefully pushed the door open and looked across.

He saw flames burning around the doorframe.

He also saw a majestic, ancient hall in the distance, with colorful radiance drifting among its eaves and pillars. And there was a handsome youth in splendid robes, along with an old man with an immortal air, white hair, and a childlike face.

The youth was hanging from a beam while the old man whipped him.

The old man's voice was vigorous and carried clearly even here—

"You've been with me for so many years! Yet you secretly cultivate demonic arts on the side! Speak! What's with the living beings you refined in the alchemy furnace? What's with the human head?! You, you, you... did you truly harm the innocent?!"

The handsome youth in splendid robes writhed on the beam, shouting, "Master, I'm wronged! I was just refining ordinary Nourishing Spirit Pills! How was I supposed to know that Junior Brother would see a human head popping out of the furnace fire... Ow, ow, stop hitting me, Master, I'm innocent!"

The old immortal master almost jumped up at that: "Stop making excuses! I checked the furnace earlier and even sensed the spiritual nature of a living being! There really was a living person in your furnace!"

Yu Sheng watched, dumbfounded. Then he saw a small figure emerge beside the doorframe—it was the same little Daoist boy with the fan from before. The kid's eyes went wide as he glanced at the door, then ran toward the hall, shouting, "Master! Master! Another head popped out of Senior Brother's furnace! It's that same guy again!"

The old immortal master with the immortal bearing immediately pulled out his copper-studded belt...

Well, maybe it wasn't a copper-studded belt—it was too far to tell clearly—but judging from the youth's sudden yelp, the thing was as fearsome as one.

Yu Sheng slammed the door shut. Astonishment, excitement, elation—all kinds of emotions mingled together. It was a long moment before he turned to Irene in the painting and cried out in joy, "Irene! I did it! I did it!"

Irene jumped in surprise. "Calm down, what did you do?"

"That passage just now was one I'd opened before! I just controlled it to open again by myself—this process is controllable! Replicable!"

He was excited and thrilled. Now that he'd confirmed he could indeed control that subtle "spiritual guidance," it meant he could also control and replicate any other "door" he had ever opened, including the valley where Hu Li was!

Next, all he had to do was try to recall the "frequency" he had sensed inside his heart when he fell into that valley. Even if he could only find a close frequency, he could exhaustively search until he found it!

Irene was visibly getting excited along with him, but this time the doll lady surprisingly regained her composure quickly. She reminded him, "So, aren't you going to explain things to the people on the other side of that door? The one hanging from the beam is about to get beaten to death..."

Yu Sheng froze, then belatedly remembered that point—mainly because every previous opening had been random, and he wasn't yet used to the situation where the process was controllable and he could actually do something.

Then he reached out and grabbed the door handle, but a flicker of hesitation passed through his heart.

Would the people on the other side be easy to talk to? That immortal-looking old man... could he be the kind of "immortal" Hu Li had mentioned? But he didn't seem like it—mainly because his style didn't match an immortal running a travel agency. Maybe they were from a different system... If things went wrong and they attacked, what then? He was just a mortal, definitely no match... Could he just say a few words from the door? Hopefully, there was no way they could attack through the door. After all, last time he closed the door, the immortal-looking old man only sensed the "living spirit" but didn't follow the door to find him...

A jumble of thoughts raced through his mind. Finally, Yu Sheng gritted his teeth, focused again, and tried to lock onto the frequency of the previous opening. After confirming it several times, he cautiously pushed the door open again.

A thrill of success welled up from his heart—he had successfully replicated that passage again!

The immortal-looking old man was flying over from afar on a patch of rosy clouds, escorting that splendid-robed youth, who had been beaten half to death.

Yu Sheng stood at the door, not daring to approach, and shouted loudly, "It's all a misunderstanding!"

Then that splendid-robed youth fell straight off the rosy clouds, almost crying as he yelled, "Don't toy with me! Whoever senior immortal is over there, if I've offended you, just say it clearly!"

"I don't know! I was just passing through!" Yu Sheng was telling the truth. "I didn't know this was your alchemy furnace—misunderstanding, really."

Then he directly shut the door.

Mainly because he was afraid the immortal on the other side would attack.

Yu Sheng turned back and stared at Irene in the oil painting.

"...Do you think I explained it clearly?"

Irene nodded vigorously. "I think you explained it clearly."

"...I kind of feel sorry for that guy."

"...Probably won't run into him again. The world is big, right?"

"Mm, that's true."