Chapter 34: The History Weaver: The Stone Gate Opens

A young dragon is inside?

Pade hesitated and said, “My lord, why are you telling me this?”

“And where are your own men?”

Pade feared the man before him might kill them all after digging through the passage.

Fang Shi let out a cold snort: “Why ask so many questions? You only need to know my needs differ from yours.”

“I only want one thing; everything else is trash to me.”

Upon hearing this, Pade’s heart leapt—my lord doesn’t want it? That means the rest is left for us.

As for whether they’d be silenced later, wouldn’t they silence us even if we didn’t work now?

Better to work honestly and at least have a sliver of hope.

“I warn you, more than just you know about this place. Move quickly.”

“Otherwise, when others arrive, it won’t be easy.”

After speaking, Fang Shi silently walked to the entrance of the hall’s passage.

Along the way, no one dared to block him; everyone stepped aside.

Pade, upon hearing this, was startled—so others were coming too? No wonder this lord didn’t bring his own men, and made us dig—he’s in a hurry.

And now this lord stands at the passage entrance, sharpening his nails on his sword—his threat is obvious.

For the sake of his own life, Pade finally began directing his men to chip at the door.

…

At the hall’s passage exit, Fang Shi leaned against the wall, standing with his sword in hand.

He held the energy core, breathing in and out its primal force.

Pure primal force seeped from the core, entering Fang Shi’s body through every pore.

It eased muscle fatigue, repaired bodily damage, and strengthened his physique.

Residual flame elemental energy scattered through the air.

Around Fang Shi, heat blazed like fire; the air warped, sweat evaporated and hung above his head in mist.

Add to that the flickering flames—he did not seem human.

Seeing this strange phenomenon, Pade and the others dared not show disrespect.

They now firmly believed in his Initiate-level power.

An Initiate is also called an Extraordinary.

What is Extraordinary? To surpass humanity is to be Extraordinary.

Whether in strength, speed, or physique, he was no longer comparable to a normal human.

For many, another key trait was mastery of supernatural power.

But humans lacked energy cores, making mastery of supernatural power far harder than for other races.

For most physical practitioners, even after Initiation, mastering supernatural power remained difficult.

Typical examples were warriors, rogues, and other physical practitioners—perhaps they relied solely on basic attacks until Legend rank.

Only some physical practitioners with lineage could master supernatural power after Initiation.

Thus, to many, an Initiate physical practitioner might not possess supernatural power.

But any physical practitioner who mastered supernatural power was certainly an Initiate.

As for magic practitioners like sorcerers or mages, they were exceptions.

Priests and rangers, backed by deities, didn’t count either.

Druids and monks, with long-standing lineages, were also part of the lineage group.

Fang Shi, clearly a swordsman, was surrounded by flame energy.

Clearly, he was an Initiate with lineage.

For Pade, Harris, and others, they had only seen such power among nobles of the eight-hundred-li desert.

They wielded wondrous abilities far beyond those of ordinary Initiate without lineage.

Thus, Pade and his men became even more obedient, working harder than ever.

This was exactly what Fang Shi wanted.

He revealed his breathing technique in this environment

Not only to train and recover, but to intimidate these bandits.

Fang Shi knew well: compared to humans in the realm, humans on Blue Star were lucky.

They possessed attribute panels forged from cosmic laws, accelerating their evolution.

They could freely choose any basic career—even prestigious magic careers like druids, sorcerers, or priests.

Even those meeting certain conditions could select special basic careers such as Daoists or Buddhist cultivators.

At advancement, those meeting conditions received prompts for specialized career upgrades.

These upgraded careers were what Pade and others called precious lineages.

It was absurdly fortunate—though it would’ve been better without the apocalypse.

Conversely, one could call it compensation for the apocalypse.

Fang Shi’s Martial Master career was also a special basic career.

So after his rebirth, he unhesitatingly chose Martial Master.

Not just because he was familiar with it.

A special career didn’t mean inherently stronger—if poorly developed, it was worse than a common basic career.

Of course, Fang Shi didn’t know what the “special conditions” were—he only later realized he was different.

“I’m curious: with so many humans across the multiverse, why was Blue Star chosen?”

“What secret lies behind it?”

This question had puzzled Fang Shi for a long time—and all Blue Star humans before their rebirth.

For example, this realm also had humans—why weren’t they chosen?

“Realm” is merely a name on the key; in truth, it is another world.

The realm’s world is vast—some are far larger than Blue Star.

Within the realm exist civilizations, nations, various races, even deities.

The realm key merely transports the user to a location within this world matching their own ability, for exploration.

Then allows the explorer to gain benefits.

Not like a game dungeon, creating a confined space

Filled with levels and bosses, where explorers can only move within a limited area.

Once in the realm, explorers can go anywhere—left, right, forward, backward, even up to the heavens or down to the earth.

It makes no difference; exploration rate might be slightly lower, that’s all.

And there’s something even more astonishing.

No matter how explorers act, they will never encounter events exceeding the key’s level limit.

For instance, a Level 5 explorer enters the realm and hears of a legendary evil being slaughtering a city nearby.

The Level 5 explorer, enraged, rushes to stop it.

Whether he can win is another matter.

Yet no matter what he does, he will never face that legendary being.

He won’t even encounter the legendary’s powerful subordinates.

He’ll only meet Level 5-level soldiers—all within the key’s level limits.

Some call this phenomenon fate.

Its master they call the History Weaver.

It was He who plunged Blue Star into apocalypse.

It was He who granted Blue Star humans infinite evolutionary potential.

Thus, cults worshipping Him emerged on Blue Star.

Naturally, many believed in this cult.

Even those who didn’t believed became superstitious.

Fang Shi didn’t know if it was true, but he preferred calling it nihilism—so his struggles would feel more meaningful.

…

Behind the pale-white palace door, on the central platform, the gray-stone spherical object trembled again.

“Who? Who disturbed my sleep!” The childish voice brimmed with fury.

Like someone woken from deep sleep, rage boiled with no outlet.

The spherical object activated its ability, sensing the earth’s pulse.

A scene instantly formed in its mind.

A group of figures took turns swinging tools, hammering relentlessly at the palace door.

The clanging and pounding was the noise that had disturbed its sleep.

Upon discovering the culprits, the sphere grew furious—its stone spines all stood erect.

“How dare you disturb the sleep of the Great King of Earth and Mountain? I will make you pay.”

“Roar!”

A string of draconic words emerged from the spherical object, and the entire hall began to change.

……

“Ding, ding, ding.”

“Crack!”

After a bandit from the Giant Scorpion Gang hacked off several stone blocks, another immediately took his place.

To be fair, this method was quite efficient.

The Giant Scorpion Gang had about thirty men; each took turns slashing at the door with all their strength, and thus a passable passage gradually formed.

If they had proper tools, their efficiency could be even faster—at least doubled.

Pade wasn’t idle during this time either.

He continuously boosted the gang’s morale, promising all sorts of rewards after completing this task.

Otherwise, Pade feared some young, reckless brothers might cause him trouble.

Overall, Pade still held great authority, aided by the elders’ counsel.

The incident where Pade severed one of his own men’s arms was now past.

The gang gradually settled down, for no one wanted to be killed pointlessly.

As for the man who lost his arm, Pade had promised him a sum of money to retire in an oasis.

Whether the crippled man could actually keep that money was another matter entirely.

Some understood clearly but chose to watch silently.

The man knew the consequences, yet he had no power to resist—only to accept in silence.

“Harris, have you ever seen a dragon?” Pade asked the man beside him.

“Never. Why, boss?”

Harris, a Level 5 Rogue, was the top man in the gang.

Pade wanted to talk with him, to help him integrate into the gang.

“If you’ve never seen one, how do you know how to kill a dragon?”

Harris rubbed his head: “I figured, no matter what, dragons are still creatures with heads and hearts—cut them once, they die.”

“Besides, how strong can a young dragon be? I heard bards say the white dragons of the North can’t even beat a wild boar.”

“Hmm, same as I thought—no wonder I value you.” Pade clapped Harris on the shoulder.

“Haha,” Harris laughed along, then lowered his voice. “Boss, do you think that lord will keep his word?”

Pade paused, then said seriously: “The lord is nobility—he’ll keep his word.”

Harris snorted: “Come on, nobles are the ones who break promises the most.”

Pade sighed, remembering Harris had only recently joined the gang and had little stake in the matter.

He said: “You have to trust the lord first, before you can think about the future, and then…”

Before he could finish, an odd sound interrupted their conversation.

The pale-white hall door, unchanged for so long, suddenly trembled violently, as if the entire underground palace shuddered.

This left everyone startled and uncertain, before they could even discuss what had happened.

“Boom!”

The hall door slowly swung outward.