Chapter 293: Xuan Che's Eldest Senior Uncle Is Quite a Figure

Like being stuck between two worlds?

Hearing Xuan Che's words, Yu Sheng's heart immediately stirred: "Yes, yes, that's exactly the feeling!"

Then, immediately, he reacted: "Wait, do you know what's going on with this situation?!"

"I have never seen it," Xuan Che shook his head, but immediately shifted his tone, "However, I once heard my eldest senior uncle mention some strange and bizarre things he witnessed while wandering in his early years; among them, one incident actually reminded me of the situation in your room."

Yu Sheng immediately became interested: "Tell me about it?"

Xuan Che recalled for a moment and slowly spoke: "My eldest senior uncle said that when he sought the Dao in his early years, he explored the starry river; due to a malfunction of his Immortal Ark, he mistakenly arrived at an unnamed 'Desolate Star'. That planet was not on any navigation chart, and no navigation beacons or stations established by any civilization could be seen nearby, yet the space surrounding the planet echoed everywhere with strange whistling—in the terms of outsiders, it was called 'electromagnetic howling'. To repair the Immortal Ark, my eldest senior uncle was forced to make an emergency landing on that Desolate Star, where he encountered many utterly bizarre phenomena."

"He said the surface of that planet had no life, yet countless black massive stones stood there; each massive stone was a thousand zhang tall, with a length and width of several hundred zhang, like countless stone tablets as high as mountains, arranged neatly on the ground. Between the massive stones, one could see dried-up river valleys and cliffs, where large and small Shi Zhu lay fallen. Whether it was the mountain-high stone tablets or the fallen Shi Zhu, they were clearly made by human hands..."

"He made an emergency landing on the top of one of those massive stone tablets. The landing spot was on the anti-sun side of the 'Desolate Star'. On the second day, he saw a sun rise from the port side of the Immortal Ark; that sun was the color of red gold, as large as a chariot wheel. But on the third day, he saw... another sun."

"What the heck? Another sun?" Yu Sheng, who had been listening intently, suddenly froze. "Speak clearly: did an extra sun appear in the sky, or... was it replaced?"

"It was replaced," Xuan Che said slowly. "Its color was orange-red, the size of a fist, rising from the port side of the Immortal Ark. Throughout the entire day afterward, it hung high in the sky; because it was not as bright as the sun of the previous day, the entire sky appeared exceptionally dim and gloomy."

"Then on the fourth day, the sun the color of red gold and as large as a chariot wheel rose again... and so it went, repeating in a cycle."

Yu Sheng sat beside him, stunned. Although this string of stories spilling from the mouth of a "cultivator" like Xuan Che was somewhat strange in style, Yu Sheng had long since disregarded such stylistic issues; his entire attention was fixed on the two obviously anomalous suns.

"Let me confirm first: exactly how many suns were there around that planet?" he couldn't help asking.

"Just one," Xuan Che, who had clearly anticipated Yu Sheng would ask this, answered very quickly. "According to my eldest senior uncle's observations before the emergency landing, the sun the color of red gold should be the one visible on the surface under 'normal' conditions."

"Then that other small orange-red sun is..."

"Also truly existing, but existing in 'the other side of the world'," Xuan Che said slowly. "My eldest senior uncle later stayed there for a long time, trying to solve this bizarre phenomenon. His final speculation was that the planet beneath his feet was actually simultaneously located in two worlds, orbiting two suns at the same time—and the two suns overlapped at the same coordinates in the two worlds. Observed from outside the planetary orbit, only the sun located in 'our side' could be seen, but on the surface of the Desolate Star, the skies of the two worlds would be observed alternately on a daily cycle..."

Yu Sheng listened blankly. After a long while, he nodded at Xuan Che with a somewhat subtle expression: "... Your eldest senior uncle is quite a figure."

"I hold my eldest senior uncle in high esteem," Xuan Che said with a smile on his face, but immediately added somewhat awkwardly, "However, my master has quite some resentment toward my eldest senior uncle for always going out wandering and neglecting the sect's affairs... Please don't tell Master that I said this."

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched; while trying hard to adapt to the style of Qianfeng Lingshan, he focused his attention on the matter at hand: "That 'Desolate Star' you mentioned just now, where exactly is it? Did your eldest senior uncle go to explore it again after returning?"

"Alas, it's regrettable to say; since my eldest senior uncle left that place, that planet and the sun it orbited seemed to vanish, never to be found again," Xuan Che sighed. "Afterward, my eldest senior uncle also returned several times using the old coordinates recorded by the Immortal Ark to search, but only found several cold dust clouds at the original location. He suspected that the planet might have completely 'fallen' into the other side, and the sun it orbited also fell into another world. Of course, it's also possible the coordinates recorded by the Immortal Ark were incorrect, since there was a malfunction at the time... If it's the second scenario, it might still be possible to find that planet, although the hope is slim."

Yu Sheng fell silent for a moment, then quietly walked to the end of the room and raised his hand to brush over that cold mirror.

Xuan Che had told such an bizarre story—a planet operating simultaneously in two worlds, and suns switching every day. All of this seemed completely out of place with the small room before their eyes, yet in subtle details, they revealed a "commonality" that one could not help but notice.

Simultaneously located in two worlds.

... Just "two" worlds?

Yu Sheng suddenly frowned.

He recalled that this mirror had not only displayed the snowing cave, but also a ruin shrouded in black mist, and a dead golden-haired doll, lying shattered among the broken walls and ruins.

What if every "scene" reflected in this mirror represented a "location" overlapping with this room?

Then... this room might be even more outrageous than the "Desolate Star" seen by Xuan Che's eldest senior uncle!

Yu Sheng's imagination spread involuntarily. After a while, he slowly gathered those swarming thoughts.

Looking up, he saw Xuan Che still seriously studying the walls around the mirror, touching here and looking there, occasionally pulling a talisman out of his casual jacket pocket. He didn't know what he chanted, but the talisman suddenly ignited in his hand, vanished, and rippled out a brief disturbance, as if testing something.

Erin and Hu Li stood not far away, the two of them combined not even having enough education for elementary school, murmuring there, analyzing what exactly Xuan Che was doing. The small doll poked the fox's tail: "Hey, look, look, this is real cultivation, look at the style—even though the style isn't quite right either, at least it's much more normal than yours."

"I, I know this too!" Hu Li was also quite interested in what Xuan Che was fiddling with in his hands, but after hearing Erin's words, he stubbornly insisted, "However, we don't use such traditional talismans anymore; we directly cast spells without talismans..."

"Sounds soulless."

Hu Li could never win an argument against Erin, so he started slapping Erin's head with his tail, crackling and popping.

Xuan Che couldn't help but turn his head to glance at the bickering doll and nine-tailed fox, then turned and came before Yu Sheng.

"I just carefully inspected every part of this room and indeed found many unreasonable places, but as you said, they are all 'closed'... Can the 'rift' here open on its own?"

"No," Yu Sheng shook his head. "At least I haven't found a way to control it yet."

"Then we can only rely on fate," Xuan Che sighed upon hearing this. "We can only wait until this place 'opens' again; in its current state, it really doesn't reveal much more."

"No big problem; the story you just told me has already given me great inspiration," Yu Sheng smiled; he was quite open-minded about this matter. "Then let's go back to the living room first; I still want to hear you talk more about Qianfeng Lingshan."

"Of course."

!

The group left that bizarre room at the end of the second-floor corridor. Yu Sheng walked last, and before leaving, he carefully confirmed once more that the door was closed, only then departing with peace of mind.

But after walking only a few steps, his gaze fell on Erin, who was vigorously kicking her little short legs at his feet.

"Ah, wait, I suddenly remembered something!"

Several gazes immediately converged.

Yu Sheng looked at Erin, who had raised her head, then looked at Xuan Che walking beside him.

Erin Promax lacked a way to replenish energy; Hu Li, a primary school student who grew up in a cyber-cultivation society, didn't understand ancient cultivation methods—but right before his eyes was a standard practitioner of ancient cultivation!

Although it seemed Qianfeng Lingshan wasn't quite "ancient" anymore, at least they were a faction with a complete knowledge system; perhaps they had a way to solve Erin's endurance problem!

Thinking this, he immediately organized his thoughts and looked at Xuan Che seriously: "Let me ask something first—you cultivators, you have the concept of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, right?"

"Of course," Xuan Che immediately nodded. "This is the foundation of cultivation."

"... Can it be taught to outsiders?" Yu Sheng said, suddenly feeling that asking so directly might be inappropriate; after all, cultivation methods sounded like secrets, and in many novels, movies, and games, mentioning this always meant blood and storms. So he quickly added, "I mean the most basic kind..."

"Even non-basic ones can be taught to outsiders; you just need to pass the corresponding licensing exam," Xuan Che said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "The basic ones are even simpler; all major sects over there recruit students every year; everyone who reaches the enrollment age must register—not registering is illegal."

"Uh... then can outsiders learn?!"

"Yes! Just register and pay the tuition; how well you learn depends on your own talent—I recall the Guplo international students had the highest talent."

Yu Sheng: "..."

A moment later, he slapped his forehead.

It seemed that although Qianfeng Lingshan hadn't reached the outrageous height of cyber-cultivation like Hu Li's hometown, it was clearly already walking a similar path.

Thinking this, he coughed twice and pointed at Erin.

"Here's the situation; she might need your kind of 'absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth' technique..."

(End of this chapter)