Chapter 1985 - 1978: Mission Accomplished
"Save the world? I didn’t expect you to carry such an important mission." Li Yang didn’t probe further, but judging by Zhang Menglong’s expression, he seemed genuine.
"Mr. Li Yang, although we aren’t exceptional, we’ve traveled across the entire Continent. Why haven’t we heard of such a place?" The sect masters were also curious and showed some interest in the place Li Yang mentioned.
"Because that place is not within the space we live in," Li Yang explained. "Being able to enter there was pure coincidence, and it’s possible that no one besides me knows how to get there."
"Oh?" Zhang Menglong perked up his ears, realizing that he had indeed rescued an important figure in the Prison of Sin.
"That was a long time ago. My fellow disciples and I had just left the Ancient Cave Heaven, and the Divine Profound Hall was merely a fledgling. I’d accomplished a long-held desire, and wanted to explore the Continent," Li Yang recounted his past.
At that time, he had already reached the Peak of Dao Realm strength. Except for the founders of the first superpowers, he couldn’t find any formidable opponents. He believed there was nowhere on the Continent he couldn’t go.
Freshly out of the Ancient Cave Heaven, the world was still unfamiliar to them, and he wanted to understand it more concretely this way.
Along the journey, he came across many rare treasures and had various opportunities. When passing through a sea region, he unexpectedly found a Heart Orchid in the ocean depths.
The Heart Orchid was a precious treasure, its value not below that of the finest elixir. It could help a Martial Artist concentrate Energy, boosting their realm to greater heights.
But the Heart Orchid was already claimed, its owner a powerful Warcraft living in the ocean!
This Warcraft was also a powerful species from the Ancient Cave Heaven. Its strength was not much weaker than Li Yang at that time. Initially, they fought over the Heart Orchid, but their battle escalated, turning the sea region into a deep trench.
Li Yang could barely recall how earth-shattering that battle was; all he remembered were the countless Warcraft corpses floating in the ocean, and a drastically changed landscape.
Only with the martial arts techniques inherited from the ancient Divine Profound Hall, after paying the price of severe injury, did he finally kill the Warcraft. Besides obtaining the Heart Orchid, he also acquired numerous treasures collected by the Warcraft.
Unexpectedly, that battle shattered the space of the region, revealing a spatial rift in the sea’s territory.
In fact, these spatial rifts were not exceedingly rare. Many martial artists, before perishing, would carve out such spaces to leave their legacies, awaiting a destined person.
These man-made spaces often left traces, and strong martial artists could sense them through unique spatial fluctuations.
Yet, there also existed naturally occurring spatial layers with a low occurrence probability and harsh conditions. Even when formed, they left no trace, making them impossible to find.
That battle tore apart the space, revealing the spatial layer.
Originally, Li Yang was overjoyed, thinking he had found a legacy left by an elder, but was disappointed to find it was merely an empty void.
It resembled a hollow universe; aside from the darkness, there were only three doors.
The doors were arranged in a triangular pattern, each emitting a faint glow, with nothing else around.
Li Yang initially intended to explore, but upon touching the middle door, he stopped his venture, trusting his instincts about the unknown beyond the door.
Although he didn’t open the doors, he left a spatial marker and tried to erase evidence of the battle.
The ocean region was vast, and discovering the spatial layer would be like finding a needle in a haystack, which is why Li Yang is the only one who knows about this place, without exaggerating.
"Mr. Li Yang, could you show me this place?" Zhang Menglong asked. "Of course, I can exchange anything for it."
"Hahaha, you’re too polite, little brother. Since the brother of Gu Xiao saved my life, and you’re the cousin of Brother Gu Xiao, I’m more than happy to do such a trivial task. We can go right now!"
"Great," Zhang Menglong was overjoyed, "Gu Xiao, this..."
"I’ll join you," Gu Xiao noticed the look in Zhang Menglong’s eyes.
The other sect masters also took great interest in the place. Guided by Li Yang, the group headed toward the sea region.
...
With time, the geological landscape had drastically changed. Where the ocean once lay, now stands a mountain range, shifted by the hand of time.
While terrains change, the spatial layer’s location remained fixed, and due to Li Yang’s previous marking, it was easy for him to find.
Back then, Li Yang considered returning with greater strength to explore the doors. But after the Divine Profound Hall’s rebellion, he was imprisoned in the eternal darkness of the Prison of Sin.
"Boom!"
Li Yang paused at a mountain peak, throwing a punch forward.
The space distorted slightly, then a dark passage emerged, revealing three faint light points inside.
"This is it!" Li Yang announced. "Those three light points are the doors I mentioned."
"This silhouette..." Zhang Menglong approached, immediately recognizing the leftmost and rightmost doors. Their appearance matched the door he saw opening a gateway from the Human Race world to the Demon Clan world.
Undoubtedly, these two doors led to the human world and the demon world.
"Fantastic!" Zhang Menglong quickly went to turn the handles of those doors.
With a spatial tremor, both doors opened.
Due to the imbalanced materials of each world, the opening of the two doors prompted an exchange between the three worlds’ resources. Naturally, all things progress toward balance, world equilibrium followed suit.
Once the materials and Energy among the three worlds stopped flowing, it indicated balance was achieved, and Zhang Menglong promptly closed the doors.
With a smile, Zhang Menglong realized that he had finally completed his mission.
"Mission accomplished!"