Chapter 19: Above the Source Fortress: First Encounter with Zhou Mingrui

In this universe, there are countless planets; from a realistic perspective, each planet is equivalent to a world.

However, if divided according to mysticism, the entire universe can be broadly split into three worlds: the Star Realm, representing authority and conceptual domains; the Spirit Realm, where all past and future information is gathered; and the material world.

Among them, the Star Realm is too lofty, the material world seems ordinary, and only the Spirit Realm is the world most utilized by extraordinary individuals.

The Spirit Realm is a convergence of information; past, present, and future all intertwine here, and extraordinary beings mostly obtain revelations from it through divination and prophecy.

At the same time, the Spirit Realm and the material world are two sides of the same coin; within it, spacetime dimensions are chaotic, with no distinction of before/after or left/right, and it also serves as a bridge for many extraordinary individuals to perform spatial travel.

At this moment, Feng Yi clearly felt his spiritual sense, following some connection, enter the Spirit Realm formed from gathered information.

His surroundings before him kept shifting, becoming vividly intense—reds redder, blacks darker, blues bluer, colors intertwining, giving a hallucinatory, chaotic feeling.

He instinctively 'raised his head' and saw seven streams of pure light in different colors.

Before he could fully discern the details of those seven lights, a patch of slightly illusory gray-white mist appeared, enveloping his spiritual sense.

Feng Yi's spiritual perception twitched, as if he saw a hazy, indistinct palace hovering above the seven spiritual lights.

'Source Fortress?'

'Surely this is the Lord of the Spirit Realm!'

The next moment, Feng Yi's vision vanished, and he found his spiritual sense transformed into a figure standing upon an expanse of gray-white mist.

At this time he resembled a true living being, except his figure was shrouded in a layer of gray-white mist, making his features indiscernible.

Not far ahead of him, there were three more figures—two men and a woman—likewise shrouded in gray-white mist, their true faces unseen.

'This is the Tarot Society.'

'There's no palace or seats, and only three people; this must be the moment when Zhou Mingrui first attempted the fortune‑turning ritual and, by chance, arrived at the Source Fortress.'

'Then the one who just sent the invitation shouldn't be this "protagonist," but that deathless Heavenly Venerable?'

'Wasn't His coffin lid firmly pressed down by God's hidden hand? Does He still have strength left?'

'And at this very moment, how truly coincidental—fate really is one of the most mysterious things in this world.'

Upon seeing what unfolded before him, Feng Yi immediately understood the details.

In short, at this point in time, the aftermath of the protagonist Zhou Mingrui's resurrection as a Heavenly Venerable was cast by the Source Fortress onto Earth, where it merged with the deceased Klein.

Zhou Mingrui thought he had transmigrated, but in fact he arrived at a future era after Earth's modern civilization had already been destroyed.

Afterward, he activated the fortune‑turning ritual he had recorded then, and returned once more to the Source Fortress.

Moreover, he inadvertently used the Source Fortress's power to also pull Audrey Hall and Alger Wilson onto it.

In the original story, relying on the Source Fortress's ability to deceive, Klein posed before them as a newly revived true god, later bringing in more people and thus establishing the future Tarot Society.

However, Feng Yi had a feeling that the one who sent him the invitation was not Klein.

His thoughts turned, yet his expression hardly changed; he calmly watched the scene before him without intending to speak.

At this moment, Feng Yi's mind seemed to split into two parts—one remained here, the other appeared to be in another special dimension, like an outsider watching from outside a screen, impartially enjoying the opening of a grand play.

In this special state, strands of special power flowed over his body, as if something within his heart had melted away, becoming a kind of conceptual entity.

'This is.'

Feeling his own change, Feng Yi's heart stirred slightly, giving rise to a hint of understanding.

'Has the audience's magic potion been digested? Does my state count as aligning with the concept of the audience?'

'But I'm clearly just a strand of spiritual sense—can that even work?'

'Moreover, not only the audience's magic potion, but Fuxi's status and concept also seem to have been digested a bit.'

'Could it be that the Fuxi status and concept precipitated in my innate spiritual light will, as I digest this world's magic potion and raise my own sequence, be gradually absorbed by me?'

'Or is it that this special state of mine helps in accommodating Fuxi's status and concept?'

His thoughts turned, and Feng Yi fell into contemplation, silently summing up his experience and insight.

"Sir, where is this?"

"What do you wish to do?"

As Feng Yi sensed his own change, the two figures on the gray mist almost simultaneously spoke.

Unlike Feng Yi, who understood everything, Audrey Hall and Alger Wilson—pulled here by Zhou Mingrui, that is, the present Klein, onto this somewhat eerie gray mist—were obviously unable to stay calm.

Upon hearing those words, Feng Yi also turned his gaze toward them.

Audrey Hall is a tall, blond‑haired girl; Alger Wilson is a medium‑built man with deep blue, seaweed‑like tangled hair—but the gray mist veils them, so Feng Yi cannot see their faces.

"An attempt."

Then, a plain voice sounded from a mysterious figure not far away.

His voice was low but not deep, his manner casual, as if everything before him were merely his little game, all under his control.

Hearing this, Audrey Hall and Alger Wilson gazed at the gray‑shrouded mysterious figure, involuntarily sucking in a breath of cold air, their hearts trembling.

To drag oneself here unknowingly—such a miraculous method—is it merely a casual try on the other's part?

What a powerful and mysterious figure!

Meanwhile, watching that speaking figure and sensing his faintly displayed high‑bearing posture, Feng Yi's eye twitched involuntarily.

If he weren't clear about the other's true situation, he would indeed have thought them an inscrutable great figure.

Sure, quite the act—could score eighty‑two points!

Seeing his performance, Feng Yi's mind involuntarily conjured an image from another realm of the Myriad Heavens—a muscle‑bound Heavenly Venerable who loves to show off before crowds.

Who knows what sparks would fly if those two met?

However, Feng Yi did not expose them; instead he calmly watched the scene, as if enjoying a splendid play.

Perhaps because Klein is the Heavenly Venerable's chosen one, occupying a significant weight in this world's fate, Feng Yi could feel that as he spoke, the digestion speed of his audience's magic potion grew ever faster, even the Fuxi concept in his heart seemed to shift slightly.

On the other side, seeing the tall girl and blue‑haired boy stunned by his words, showing awe, Klein inwardly gave himself a thumbs‑up for his cleverness.

He had just activated the ritual when he suddenly arrived upon this gray mist, and was also startled.

But soon afterward, he realized he could maintain his inscrutable image, thereby seizing the initiative to steer events and obtain useful information for himself.

Nowadays, the effect is still not bad!

At this moment, Klein's mindset had already changed; from a panicked guest who had come to this place, he had become the master of this place, gaining confidence, and instinctively maintained his own pretentiousness and sense of mystery.

But the next moment, upon seeing another figure who had remained silent and, since arriving here, had always appeared very calm—a mysterious man—Klein's heart couldn't help but jump again.

An inexplicable thought spontaneously arose in his mind.

It seems this mysterious man is not like the other two; he is not someone easily fooled!

He is likely a formidable rival in maintaining one's own pretentiousness!

(End of chapter)