Chapter 221: Return Home, the Realm Expansion Apparatus

Before he could react, darkness swallowed his vision.

Yet in the next instant, light reappeared in his field of view.

Before him, a sea of gray-black mist churned, as if devouring all, stretching nearly beyond sight.

That was… Qing Xu? He sat numbly on the cliff's edge, unable to recover for a long time.

What happened? Why had he suddenly appeared outside Qing Xu?

Could it be because of the spatial storm?

He had indeed heard of cases where people were swept into spatial storms yet survived and returned…

No!

Even then, the range could only be within Qing Xu—how could he be flung directly outside it?

Then… was it because of that final voice? That shadow, half-real, half-illusory, in the last flickering images…

"Captain!"

A sudden voice shattered his thoughts—it was the Foundation Establishment cultivator, a law cultivator.

He blinked, turned his head, and opened his mouth to speak.

But the next moment, what he saw made his pupils contract sharply.

Not just him!

All members of his squad were there, and even farther away, other teams—identical to his—crowded the cliffside, their figures densely packed.

And more people kept appearing on the cliff face.

Some had higher cultivation than he did, yet their expressions were equally bewildered.

It seemed everyone inside Qing Xu had been expelled.

"Captain, your hand…"

Hand? The Soul Transformation body cultivator froze, looked down—and saw his palm, shattered into blood mist by the spatial storm, had somehow healed.

As if everything he'd experienced had been an illusion.

And in his hand, he still held the treasure ore, upon which a tiny, unremarkable green sprout grew, its roots like veins entwined around the ore.

His confusion deepened.

What exactly was going on?

Everyone inside Qing Xu had been sent out.

Who had the power to do this? His mind raced.

The next instant, he made his decision.

He tucked away the treasure ore.

"Let's go!"

More people kept arriving—staying longer might bring trouble.

The goal had been achieved; what mattered now was securing this haul.

He dared not assume all Qing Xu explorers were saints! …………

Inside Qing Xu at this moment.

As each cultivator was expelled, Qing Xu grew increasingly desolate.

All of this was Xu Xing's doing.

At first, he had merely saved a cultivator with a decent nature, and casually helped him gather the spirit herbs too.

Later, he simply expelled everyone.

Anyone with a decent nature—not outright evil—received the spirit herbs they sought, bundled together, and tossed out.

Considered a small stroke of fortune, given on a whim.

After expelling everyone from Qing Xu,

Xu Xing passed through layers of mist, crossed thorns, and finally reached the foot of a small hill.

The hill stood only ten meters high, barren, lifeless, its exposed gray-brown rock scarred by eons of erosion.

This was where the "Return Home" laboratory lay.

He opened his palm, and a golden glyph sphere, slowly rotating, appeared there, its light pushing back the surrounding gray-black mist.

Hum~ As invisible ripples spread, the golden glyph sphere's slowly turning inscriptions detached, drawn forward into the empty air.

Though he could have entered directly, using the key was better.

A small courtesy to an old fellow.

"Authentication successful!" A cold mechanical voice reverberated through the mist.

"Question: Don't worry about the road ahead—you'll find no friends?"

"Please answer!"

"…."

Damn it! Not this again.

Xu Xing paused: "Who in the world doesn't know you?"

"Password correct!"

Good—this time only one line was needed.

The glyphs, previously drawn away, returned.

Instantly, as if heavy curtains had been pulled open, the hill vanished, replaced by a massive silver metal door, thick and imposing.

At its top, two large characters were carved—Return Home.

Two translucent, jade-white skeletons leaned against the metal door, draped in tattered rags, their bones shattered and broken in countless places.

Clearly, they were attacked before death.

"These two…"

This was a laboratory left behind by Yuan—how could these two sets of bones have entered the concealment array? Xu Xing's eyes shimmered with shifting light.

Just an instant later, he sighed softly and waved his hand to collect the bones.

These two sets of bones died seventeen years ago; initially hunted down, then swept into a spatial storm influenced by the essence of 'Tai'.

That's how they breached Yuan's concealment array.

Unfortunately, they ultimately could not escape their fate, dying right before the metal door.

Hss~!

The metal door trembled, then slowly opened, revealing a dim passage extending downward.

Puff! Puff! Lights ignited, illuminating the long passage.

Putting away the golden rune orb, Xu Xing walked inside.

As he entered the passage, the metal door swiftly closed.

Walking through the passage, Xu Xing's expression was calm, yet in his hand appeared a warm, tear-shaped red jade.

Not one he received from the Orthodox Alliance, but one taken from the bones lying before the metal door.

"Pity the heart of parents everywhere…"

Indeed, the matter was this coincidental.

These two sets of bones were none other than the deceased parents of the Zhang siblings.

Back then, they told the Zhang siblings they were going to Explore a Secret Realm, but in truth they had secretly come to Qing Xu, intending to gather rare spiritual herbs to cleanse and strengthen their daughter's meridians and bones.

Along the way, however, they were ambushed by a pair of brothers coveting their treasures, and ultimately perished within Qing Xu.

"When you return, give them her remains."

Zhang Yunlu is now my junior disciple—this matter is best left for her and her brother to decide themselves.

Originally, Zhang Xiu joined the Long Xiang Qing Tian Sect largely to investigate the truth behind this incident.

I wonder what his reaction will be when he hears the news.

Xu Xing did not dwell on it, passing through the long passage and rounding two corners.

Then all opened before him: before his eyes lay a vast underground chamber.

As he stepped forward, lights long unused ignited one after another.

In an instant, bright light flooded every corner.

Looking ahead, he saw at the center of this space stood a colossal celestial instrument, a hundred meters tall, with eighty-one concentric rings.

The ancient bronze rings were engraved with intricate symbols, interlocking and progressively layered.

Though now dim and motionless, one could still imagine the grandeur of its full illumination in days past.

Xu Xing walked up close and silently observed it for a while.

"Jie Yan Yi…"

This was the device Yuan once used to deduce world coordinates.

It once possessed a spirit, but now it seems to have been drained.

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