Chapter 420: Could the Departed Be Inside This Gate?

Five immortal beings…

The First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou locked eyes with Xiang Hong; including Wan De, five immortal beings were now united for one task.

In that moment, his resolve hardened further—this was likely the Original Battlefield.

“When we return, I’ll investigate the whereabouts of the other immortal beings. Maybe I’ll find something useful,” said Tianxie Sword Immortal.

In the past, he had always been immersed in cultivation and sword practice, rarely caring about anything else.

Now, faced with the mystery of the immortal beings’ disappearance, Tianxie Sword Immortal’s curiosity was stirred.

The dark glow orb continued to shift, changing intermittently, undisturbed by the conversation of Tianxie Sword Immortal and the others.

During this time, it transformed again into figures and objects familiar to Xiang Hong, the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou, and Tianxie Sword Immortal.

Too familiar.

These figures and objects were extraordinary—legendary figures from their world, rare treasures, ancient ruins, and structures.

The more they watched, the more curious they became.

What exactly was this dark glow orb? Why could it manifest these great figures and things?

After watching for a long while, the three—First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou, Tianxie Sword Immortal, and Xiang Hong—retracted their gazes.

They had not come to the Punishment Gorge for sightseeing, nor to watch the glow orb shift endlessly—they came with a mission.

“Let’s first search for any life in the gorge.”

The First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou proposed it; Xiang Hong and Tianxie Sword Immortal agreed.

At this moment.

Far away on Earth, in Tokyo, Japan, in a residence in Arakawa Ward.

Kamikawa Mitsu watched every move of Xiang Hong and the other three; upon hearing Tianxie Sword Immortal would investigate the immortal beings’ whereabouts, he wore a satisfied expression.

In truth, his arrangement of this mission was not merely to have them promote Chujie to other worlds.

There were other reasons.

One of them concerned the mysterious disappearance of the immortal beings in the world of the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou and Tianxie Sword Immortal.

Kamikawa Mitsu had not selected members at random—he had carefully chosen them, investigating their identities and their home worlds.

That was how he uncovered the strange vanishings of the immortal beings in their world; he knew better than anyone that the “Original Battlefield” was merely a script he fabricated, not reality.

In other words, the immortal beings had not gone to the Original Battlefield to fight—they had vanished into nothingness.

He had spent script points trying to uncover the reason behind their disappearance, but the script points were insufficient; these were immortal beings, and more than five were involved—the required script points were enormous.

Kamikawa Mitsu did not wish to waste script points on this unknown investigation.

Thus, he orchestrated this search mission: beyond its secondary purpose of promoting Chujie across the myriad worlds and refining Chujie’s lore, its primary goal was to guide them to investigate the disappearance of the immortal beings.

In this way, he could save a substantial amount of script points.

…

Passing the dark glow orb, the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou and the others moved forward.

Above them, boundless destruction flowed—no sun or moon visible, no sky discernible, no sense of day or night, as if time itself had been lost.

Carried along by the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou and Tianxie Sword Immortal, Xiang Hong had no sense of how much time had passed, but the journey had been impossibly long—surely several times around the Earth.

“Could the bottom of the Punishment Gorge not be a gorge at all, but rather a hidden world?”

The First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou noticed the journey’s length and suspected this might be a fragment of a previous age, fused with the gorge’s depths.

Otherwise, the gorge’s bottom was too vast.

Soon, their suspicion was confirmed; after walking further, they saw a glow ahead.

It was the dark glow.

“Did we circle back?” Xiang Hong stared at the dark glow, then at a stone on the ground before it.

It was an ordinary stone, carved with the words “Xiang Hong was here”—left deliberately by Xiang Hong.

One, to prove he had come here; if some great master ever descended, he could show off. Two, to mark their path.

Seeing the stone, Xiang Hong realized the dark glow was the same one they had seen before.

“A ghost wall?”

This was Xiang Hong’s first time in another world, and his power was low—he had no understanding of hidden worlds. Only after Tianxie Sword Immortal explained did he finally understand.

“No wonder we saw ancient ruined structures and fragments of priceless treasures along the way.”

During their exploration, Xiang Hong had encountered ancient, decaying structures—architectural styles unlike those in Tianhong Divine City, and critically, severely decayed; even with destruction isolating them, the passage of eons had ravaged them.

Suddenly, he realized—they were relics from the previous age.

Too bad they had glimpsed the civilization of the previous age and collected fragments of priceless treasures, yet still had not seen the Departed.

“It seems the Departed Supreme either left, or the information was wrong.”

They had scoured the entire bottom of the gorge; apart from the dark glow orb, there was nothing unusual—not even a single soul.

“Huh?”

The First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou suddenly let out a soft exclamation, drawing the attention of Tianxie Sword Immortal and Xiang Hong, who were about to leave.

“Look at that glow orb,” the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou pointed.

The dark glow continued to shift—now forming a gate, ancient in design, not from any world the three knew.

As they gazed at the orb, Tianxie Sword Immortal and Xiang Hong both felt a strange sensation.

This was the first time the dark glow had evoked such a feeling—they felt… that this gate formed by the dark glow could be entered.

Previously, no matter how the dark glow transformed—into buildings, palaces—they never felt they could enter. But now, deep within, a sense whispered: this gate could be passed through.

“Do you think the Departed might be inside this gate?” asked the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou.

The gorge’s bottom was vast, and the dark glow orb was the most peculiar thing there—most likely connected to the equally mysterious Departed.

“Regardless, I’m going in to take a look.”

Tianxie Sword Immortal gritted his teeth and decided to enter the gate; the dark glow shifted endlessly, each form lasting a different duration, never permanent. Lingering here risked missing it—if it changed again, they’d lose their chance.

Then they’d be forced to wait for it to reform into a gate—but when? The transformations were unpredictable.

“I’ve always had good luck, great fortune—I’ll go first and scout the way.”

Without giving the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou or Xiang Hong a chance to argue, Tianxie Sword Immortal flashed into the gate.

The next second.

Tianxie Sword Immortal’s body shot back out from within, his face filled with shock as he urgently shouted: “Come in quickly!!”

Clearly, he had discovered something inside—he feared the dark glow would shift again and hurried them to enter.

Without hesitation, the First Immortal Lord of Jiuzhou grabbed Xiang Hong and rushed into the gate formed by the dark glow.

…