Chapter 108: Visitors from Virtual Numbers

Visitors from Virtual Numbers

"The aura in the field is already chaotic. You all quickly sit cross-legged and enter stillness, guarding your original heart, and absolutely do not peep at the upper realm. Everything outside is unknown, unheard, and unseen. Otherwise, be careful that your life will not be guaranteed and your Dao path will not be stable!"

On Baoyun Sea, there were more cultivators coming to pick up people than those coming out of Hengze Heaven. Hundreds of cultivators were gathered by sects, and they had already opened distances intentionally or unintentionally. At this time, the thick blackness spread at the edge of the sky, and the disposal methods of each sect were different. In the Shangqing Gate, True Person Wang didn't speak, but Lu Huangning had already sternly ordered Xu Shaowei, Ruan Ci, and Qin Fengyu. He had always given people

Xu Shaowei usually seemed a bit willful, but at this moment she was extremely obedient. As soon as Lu Huangning finished speaking, she sat cross-legged and raised her hand to release a golden bell. The bell grew as it met the wind, descending to cover her. Ruan Ci couldn't help but be startled when she saw this, thinking to herself, "Could this be the life-substituting golden bell that Ancestor Xu gave her?" She hadn't expected that less than ten years after Tai Shiyi took the bell away, it would be returned to her.

Even the Grotto-Heaven and Nascent Soul cultivators were on such high alert that the Foundation Establishment disciples were naturally panicked. A Nascent Soul Elder from the Jin Bo Sect had come to receive Li Pingyan; he flew over with his disciple, bowed to the avatar of Wang Zhenren, and extended a finger, directly knocking Li Pingyan unconscious and stuffing him into a human-sized bag. This was the most secure method; inside the bag, Li Pingyan would definitely not be able to observe that thick, black aura.

Other sects also had methods of directly knocking their disciples unconscious, while others ordered their disciples not to peek and to guard their minds. There were also some rogue cultivators who, by chance, had not entered the city and had been earning small amounts of money outside. They had absolutely no chance of obtaining the Hengze Jade Dew, and no one from a sect came to collect them. At this moment, they were all in a panic; some rushed toward the nearest Grotto-Heaven cultivator to beg for protection, some turned and transformed into light to flee, and others imitated the cultivators who had masters looking after them, sealing their five senses or even knocking themselves out in an attempt to muddle through.

Ruan Ci relied on the protection of the Donghua Sword and was not as anxious as Xu Shaowei or Qin Fengyu. Her thoughts were on Jiang Youwen, so she stood on the clouds and looked around, taking in the scene of everyone, but she did not see anyone resembling Jiang Youwen. She had no choice but to put the matter aside. Just as she was about to sit down and enter meditation, Wang Zhenren called her over and gently brushed her face. A ray of spiritual light protected Ruan Ci's head and face, and she immediately fell to the ground, unable to rise. Lu Huangning helped her to the side to lie down. To outsiders, it appeared that Wang Zhenren was worried his young disciple was ignorant of the situation, so he had simply used a ray of spiritual light to knock her out and be done with it.

However, Ruan Ci knew her own situation. Although her body was beyond her control, her consciousness remained clear. Lying on the cloud, she was perfectly positioned to look up as the thick, black aura gradually expanded. In her spiritual sense, she could vaguely feel that the auras of the many Grotto-Heaven cultivators had connected into a single entity, forming a great net that covered the area above the Treasure Cloud, and even the sky above the distant Treasure Cloud Ferry. In fact, those rogue cultivators, even if they were not beside a Grotto-Heaven True Person, were also protected within it, though the net was denser in some places and thinner in others; naturally, the closer one was to a Grotto-Heaven True Person, the safer one was.

Even when she was not deliberately observing the aura field, she could still vaguely perceive the changes within it, which showed just how intense the confrontation within the field was. But Ruan Ci also knew that with the perception of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, one might not even know at what level the most intense confrontation was taking place, nor could they sense the pressure that the thick black color brought to the Grotto-Heaven cultivators. Just as she gazed in a daze at the blackness gradually expanding, this thick blackness did not resemble the night at all; it seemed to reflect countless strange and inexplicable things, crouching behind the blackness and peeking at the people on the clouds. Ruan Ci's heart stirred, and she secretly thought, "This... could it be a Heavenly Demon? Could it be a Heavenly Demon invasion?"

Her thoughts turned, and she wanted to find Su Jingxing nearby. Although she was lying down and couldn't move, fortunately, her spiritual sense could shift without hindrance. She could still see the area within a radius of several hundred people, and before long, she found little Su. He was standing behind a blurry spiritual light avatar, hands behind his back, looking up at the sky. Indeed, he had not sealed his five senses like the other cultivators, but instead looked calm, with a hint of exploration in his expression. The avatar turned its head and said something to him, and Su Jingxing frowned slightly, nodded in agreement, and then closed his eyes, no longer watching the sky, but clearly, he was not as if facing a great enemy like the others.

"The Demon Sect cultivators truly have unique insights into dealing with Heavenly Demons. No wonder they can have a place in the Central Continent. The Yanshan forces have even spread from the Northern Underworld Continent to here, seemingly having crossed continents." Ruan Ci thought to herself, "But little Su is also being too arrogant. I wonder what benefits he actually absorbed from that scroll painting. The Langhuan Zhou Tian is guarded by the Dongyang Dao Rhyme, yet this Heavenly Demon can still invade to this point; it must be at least a great power of the Grotto-Heaven level."

In fact, she didn't know what level of cultivation was required to intrude into the Langhuan Zhou Tian so brazenly. Just as she was guessing wildly and letting her imagination run free, the thick blackness had completely shrouded the clear sky above the Treasure Cloud Sea. Within the blackness, light and dark surged and transformed constantly, and a friction sound was faintly emitted, making one's scalp tingle. All the Grotto-Heaven avatars looked up, waiting quietly. No one knew how long it surged, but suddenly the sky jumped, revealing a white sphere that occupied half the sky, like a giant star pressing on the horizon, permeating an unsettling flavor. In the center of the white sphere was a black hole, spinning endlessly in the sky. Ruan Ci watched for a while, suddenly understood, and secretly thought, "This is... this is an eye with the black and white reversed!"

An ordinary person's eye consists of a white sclera containing an iris, and within the iris, there is a pupil of a slightly lighter color. But this eye contained a white iris within the blackness, and within the iris was a light black pupil. It was as if a giant had brought its eye close to the Zhou Tian, which was not very large to it, poked a small hole, and pressed its eye against it to look in.

If it were a timid mortal, just looking at this scene would probably be enough to drive them mad. But in the cultivation world, what was strange about bizarre and terrifying scenes? Even those Demon Sect disciples loved to play god and act like ghosts; Ruan Ci had long been used to it. But she still instinctively felt that this eye was very unsettling, and she first thought to herself, "Am I being timid?"

Then she immediately denied it, "No, I am not timid. I am not afraid right now, I just feel that thing makes my spiritual sense uncomfortable... It must have some special characteristics that cannot be seen just by looking like this. Since my master didn't truly knock me unconscious, it means this thing cannot harm my Dao foundation, or... should I try to take a quick look?"

She was so close to Wang Zhenren's avatar that her thoughts should not have been able to be hidden from him; this had been proven before. Ruan Ci thought about it, and then eagerly sensed Wang Zhenren in her spiritual sense. Seeing that he seemed completely unaware and had not moved for a long time, she plucked up her courage and stole a glance into the aura field.

With just one glance, the spiritual light crisscrossing the aura field almost injured her. Only then did Ruan Ci know that the continental star map in the Dao Palace of the South Zhuzhou was actually a reflection of the aura field. At this moment, the many spiritual light figures in the aura field stood proudly with their feet on the mountains and rivers, occupying almost all the energy of this place, which also made that 'reversed eye' unable to occupy the Langhuan Zhou Tian at all, and it could only look down from the horizon. But from it, twisted spiritual flowers kept falling; this was the Dongyang Dao Rhyme. At first glance, the colorless spiritual flowers bloomed in pieces, which was not unusual, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to be something else. When the spiritual flowers landed on the great net, they were all bounced away. At this moment, the sky above the great net was filled with flying flowers, echoing the black-and-white reversed eye, with a hint of tragic beauty amidst the strangeness. Ruan Ci only stared for a while before many spiritual flowers flew toward her. She hurriedly looked away. Wang Zhenren flipped his hand, held up a jade chime, and tapped it lightly. The great net trembled, and all the spiritual flowers were bounced away, dancing wildly in the air.

The reversed eye seemed to be enraged, spinning wildly in the air and emitting a harsh sound. But in the aura field, Ruan Ci heard a hoarse voice, the tone of which was extremely calm, and could even be said to be devoid of emotion, completely contrary to the eye's frantic performance, "Something is missing. The imaginary numbers are in chaos. In the real numbers, something is missing."

Ruan Ci's heart jumped, and she secretly thought, "This is an eye looking from the imaginary numbers! That Dao Rhyme is also a Dao Rhyme from the imaginary numbers. No wonder the Grotto-Heaven cultivators are so cautious, as if facing a great enemy!"

Once she broke through a layer of reality, what she saw from the reversed eye on the horizon became much richer. Looking at it now, she could see countless Heavenly Demons crawling and gnawing within the blackness of the eye, but they were completely unable to harm this eye. "That's it, that's it. In the imaginary numbers, the defense of the Dao Rhyme is not as thorough as in the real numbers. Heavenly Demons seem to be able to travel between real and imaginary numbers. To invade the Langhuan Zhou Tian, they must all start from the imaginary numbers. This visitor from the imaginary numbers is covered in Heavenly Demons... No wonder, no wonder Sister Xie wanted to betray the Shangqing. Now that I think about it, for her to be able to break through the barrier and cross the void, she must have used the secret arts of the Heavenly Demons."

Her thoughts were racing, and she heard a pleasant female voice in the distance say, "Envoy, everything is fine in the real numbers. We are currently receiving disciples returning from the Hengze Heaven."

Her voice sounded normal in her ears, but what echoed in the aura field was a harsh friction sound. Ruan Ci thought, "Could it be that if the imaginary and real numbers want to communicate, they can only do so through the aura field? The words spoken by that eye sound harsh and noisy to us, but they are normal in the aura field. What would it be like in the imaginary numbers? Completely reversed?"

Regardless, the Envoy eye seemed to have understood the Grotto-Heaven's reply and emitted another burst of noisy sound. In the aura field, there was a hint of doubt in his voice, "Hengze Heaven, Hengze Heaven, is that the inner landscape of that person?"

"Yes, there are indeed abnormal changes in the Hengze Heaven, but the energy within the continent is not in the slightest disorder. Everything is as usual, Envoy. Time is chaotic in the imaginary numbers; have you sensed it incorrectly?" The female voice replied slowly, "That heaven and earth is a dream within a dream, a remnant within a remnant. All changes cannot affect our real numbers—"

Her voice suddenly stopped, and the noisy friction sound in the aura field also ceased. The eye suddenly spun wildly, and the black pupil on the white eyeball spun so fast that it almost became a blur, a black line. The Grotto-Heaven avatars all showed surprise on their faces, staring at each other and asking questions, as if some huge change that Ruan Ci could not sense was happening right here. It was just that she was like a blind and deaf person at this moment, having no clue about this matter.

A slow hissing sound came from the air. In the aura field, the tone of the Envoy eye sounded desperate, "It's going to escape, it's going to escape! You are playing with time, making the fruit appear before the cause. What kind of Dao Ancestor are you? What kind of Dao Ancestor are you? Quickly state your Dao name. Are you the Dao Ancestor of Space? The Dao Ancestor of Time? No! You are a remnant of the old world, you are the void within the void. How can you cross the imaginary numbers to escape? You—"

His voice suddenly cut off. At this moment, Ruan Ci finally felt a change around her, but it was extremely distant and abnormally blurry. She only felt that something had emerged from the Treasure Cloud Sea beneath her feet. It was extremely light, as if it were nothing, yet it also felt very heavy, carrying something vast and important. This thing brushed past her, but it also felt like it was in the far distance, impossible to sense or observe. Even those Grotto-Heaven cultivators had a hint of confusion on their faces; their perception was certainly much clearer than Ruan Ci's, but they still could not see the entity of that thing.

That thing flew past everyone toward the center of the eye on the horizon. The sphere spun violently, faster than before. A long, drawn-out wail came from the aura field, "No—"

"Heh."

Whether in her ears or in the aura field, a lazy, light laugh suddenly rang out. At the same time, there was a long cry with a different rhythm than the eyeball, letting one clearly know that this smile spanned both the virtual and the real, vibrating simultaneously. With this laugh, the spinning speed of the eyeball gradually slowed down. As if destined by fate, when that thing flew to the horizon, the black pupil finally slowly came to a stop, most unwillingly meeting the momentum of that thing's advance.

With a 'pop', like a needle piercing a drum skin, in Ruan Ci's perception, it was just a barely discernible prick. But that thing was like falling into a whirlpool; that vast weight suddenly leaked out from that point while spinning. In an instant, the pressure on Ruan Ci's shoulders seemed to lighten, but her heart felt a faint sense of loss, as if something had been missing from the heaven and earth around her. Although it was only a trace, it also made her feel a little heavy.

The sea of spiritual energy beneath the Treasure Cloud Sea was still surging, but there wasn't even a breeze above the clouds. The world seemed to have frozen here. The white eyeball was embedded on the horizon like a painting. I don't know how long it had been, but the pleasant female voice sighed softly and said, "Envoy, you were fooled by that person and rashly peeked into the real numbers, but you gave him a chance to escape. By using you, he broke through the blockade in both the virtual and the real. If the Dao Ancestor knows of this, he will definitely punish you. Envoy, you had better be careful."

The eyeball suddenly began to spin slowly again. In the aura field, the Envoy eye shouted hoarsely, "It's you! You must have triggered something in the real numbers!"

That patch of thick blackness suddenly disappeared. The next moment, a giant hand slowly pressed down, and the spiritual energy net immediately trembled. Many Grotto-Heaven avatars' spiritual energy shook. Behind that giant hand, the eyeball appeared again, only much smaller, as if it had moved back some distance to reach its hand in. At this moment, it was spinning wildly in the distance in the sky, and the friction sound was cutting and noisy in the air, "Hand—over—ev—ery—one—"

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Updated! Sorry for the wait, everyone, and happy holidays! I'm sending out red envelopes for this chapter!

This chapter is also a segment I really like! I especially love giant objects! In *Black Myth: Wukong*, I watched the scenes of the Four Heavenly Kings and the Great Buddha with great relish! Mythical cultivation must be paired with giant objects! Bold statement!

In this chapter, the Nirvana Dao Ancestor has slipped away~ Ah, slipped away~

What is everyone eating for the holidays today? We bought some blue crabs to eat~

As for literature, I read *Xinla* yesterday. *Xinla* is okay, but the plot line is a bit chaotic. I feel it could be written longer. I'm still slowly reading *Yinggang Zhao*. I feel this might be the author's first book; the plot arrangement is a bit immature, but the writing style is quite good. The next book should be written better and better.

. Thanks to the little angels who cast overlord votes or irrigated with nutrient fluids for me between 2020-09-30 11:58:59 and 2020-10-01 12:02:01~

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Qiran (29); Wu Mingya, Ting Yun Shiyu, SweetLuna, Li Li He Ping, Yu Yu Wan Yao, Wan Tang (1).

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated with nutrient fluids: Malanage Tang (108 bottles); 57490480 (1 bottle); Yangzi (79 bottles); Ping Ru Meitang (57 bottles); Guoguozhi, Pupu_Yao Jianya Yao Qiangda, Tuzi (7550 bottles); Tian mm (40 bottles); Shi Yaolin (33 bottles); Mogu Jiang, Shi'er Ji (30 bottles); Wu Mingya, Shui Shui Er, sidewalker, Dange, Yanzhi Jiu (20 bottles); Xiangla Tianluo (18 bottles); lanmao (15 bottles); Xingyun Juli (14 bottles); csyisghost (13 bottles); Gancao Wei De Taozi Pian, Ye Ye Ye Ye, Dang Li Ge Dangdang, Mou Mou, Qiao Qiao, Xi Xi, Xi Bao, 15806789, Xiao Moli, Sun~Sun, Miss. M (10 bottles); Xiao Yu Suibu (5 bottles); yy_Youyou (2 bottles); Lu Fei, Wo Shi Da Xianpa, 18205385, myadam11, Cheng Bi, Yisheng De Junjun, Bu Zhi Yao Kan Shenme, Haidai A Haidai, Baomu Caoxi Yang (1 bottle).

Thank you all very much for your support; I will continue to work hard!