Chapter 1092: A Step Away, a World Apart

The Torihos Canal is built on the narrow continental bridge; from the canal, a southward trek of about three hundred li reaches the Southern Continent, and if the sealing barrier is not present, one can walk straight into the continent's interior to explore this vast land.

Of course, this route has been impassable since more than twenty thousand years ago.

"Hmm?"

A Thundercast Divine Soldier cast a teleportation spell and found itself still in place. "Spell failed?" The distance was probably misjudged, the landing point too close to the Southern Continent.

So it cast again, shortening the teleportation distance.

This time it succeeded!

The eyes of ten Thundercast Divine Soldiers flickered, and they appeared over two hundred li above the south, scanning the surroundings; everything within sight was endless primeval forest. Whether looking north back toward the canal or southward, all that could be seen was green.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers descended and continued moving on the ground.

Although they had not yet entered the Southern Continent's domain, still on the bridge linking the two continents, the ground beneath them was already completely covered by forest.

Hundreds‑meter‑tall towering trees were everywhere; walking in the forest, looking up at the sun, the air was hot and humid, thorns and shrubs thick, and for an ordinary person without extraordinary power, it would be nearly impossible to move.

Even for the extraordinary, progress is slow; the forest exudes a dangerous aura.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers sensed pairs of eyes hidden in the darkness, from treetops, grass, and beneath the water—many beasts and monsters.

However, this posed little threat to the Thundercast Divine Soldiers.

The leading Thundercast Divine Soldier released its aura.

A dragon‑like pressure spread outward; instantly, the lurking hidden ones either fled in fright or trembled in their hideouts, daring not to emerge.

The squad pushed south quickly.

Half an hour later.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers simultaneously halted, cautiously observing ahead. As they advanced, they found the ubiquitous restraint grew stronger the nearer the Southern Continent, as if a natural rule barred their progress.

So far, this magical force is not a physical obstacle but a silent, insidious erosion of the mind, a subtle, implicit suggestion.

Each Thundercast Divine Soldier possesses a Truth Will, naturally unaffected.

But upon reaching here, that intangible force surged, the Truth Will gave a warning; proceeding further would entail unpredictable danger.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers had already activated the Soul Eye and the All-Seeing Eye; one of them, as captain, had the Key of Doors raised to eight rings, allowing its gaze to pierce void and see truth.

On the surface, the forest before them seemed ordinary.

Trees and weeds grew as usual, and a river ran through, flowing south. Through the canopy, deeper sights revealed vibrant life.

Yet the surroundings were silent.

Aside from rustling branches and wind, no beast roars or insect or bird cries could be heard. The sound of all things can detect sound waves within ten li, yet no living heartbeat or breath is audible, like a dead zone, chilling to the bone.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers spread left and right, discovering this bird‑beast forbidden zone stretched over a hundred li, exactly the width of the continental bridge, seamlessly joining the continent's coastline.

Beyond this invisible barrier lies the Southern Continent!

"Let's try."

A Thundercast Divine Soldier began casting, opening a Random Door with its destination inside the barrier.

Predictably, the spell failed.

Random Door, Flash, teleport gate, teleportation, pinpoint teleport, mind leap, and so on, the Thundercast Divine Soldiers tried every displacement spell they knew; indeed, none succeeded. Direct casting failed, so they tried using a magical item, tossing the "Leap Gem" in, which also had no effect.

The Thundercast Celestial Soldier also tried entering the Shadow Plane and the Ether Plane, discovering the barrier also existed in those planes.

Interdimensional teleport and phase markers were useless.

Any displacement spell whose destination lies within the Southern Continent failed outright.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers soon reached a dead end, and Lei En, far in the Empire's palace, clicked his tongue in amazement; this method had surpassed the scope of spells, like a rule set by a deity in its own divine realm, impossible to break without power beyond the gods.

"Truly a venerable sage!"

Lei En thought for a moment and let the Thundercast Divine Soldiers try other spells.

Clack!

An Electric Blast Orb flew into the invisible barrier, exploding with a boom, and lightning flames turned the surrounding plants to ash.

The Thundercast Divine Soldiers cast other spells and found that any non‑displacement magic was unaffected.

"Truly impressive!"

Lei En praised again, "Teleportation spells are useless; that one must force its way in."

A Thundercast Celestial Soldier's body swelled to over three meters tall, its skin turning dark‑gold, coursing with streams of lightning, eyes blood‑red, a pair of metallic wings unfurled behind, and it quickly layered multiple spells upon itself, reaching its prime.

In this state, the Thundercast Divine Soldier's strength rivals that of ordinary Saint Rank elites!

Under the gaze of the other Thundercast Divine Soldiers, the dwarf‑like one strode forward and swiftly entered the invisible barrier.

"Turn back!"

"Get out, this isn't where you belong."

"It's too terrifying, retreat immediately!"

In an instant, whispers rose in the Thundercast Divine Soldier's mind, as if from the distant forest depths yet also its own voice, as if another self inside its head spoke, the tones rising and falling, sometimes vague, sometimes clear, driving one mad.

The Truth Will activated instantly, dampening the mutterings to near silence.

The Thundercast Divine Soldier's mind remained unruffled.

The Thundercast Divine Soldier pressed forward resolutely, its feet treading on dead branches and leaves, speed increasing, and in a flash it was hundreds of meters deep into the invisible barrier.

At the same time, the Thundercast Divine Soldier felt a tangible force surge from all sides, like shackles around its body; the deeper it went into the forest, the stronger this invisible force became, and its speed inevitably slowed, as if stuck in quicksand.

"Huh!"

The Thundercast Divine Soldier unleashed boundless fury and Titan might; its metallic wings snapped, unleashing lightning, speed surged, and its form surged forward at high velocity.

Boom—

The Thundercast Divine Soldier blasted a passage through the forest, dust and leaves swirling behind.

Electric Flash Teleport!

This spell isn't a teleport; it works within the invisible barrier. Instantly, the Thundercast Divine Soldier's figure became a bolt of lightning, soaring to the forest canopy and racing across the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the Thunder-cast Divine Weapon had already entered the Southern Continent for nearly two thousand meters.

The wind howled in his ears.

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon was about to accelerate again when, in an instant, a flash of light appeared before its eyes, and simultaneously countless invisible attacks, whose source was unknown, crazily sliced its body and penetrated its soul.

The next second, it realized it was no longer above the forest.

Splash—…

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon heard the sound of waves, and upon closer inspection saw that it was falling from high altitude toward the sea surface, surrounded by an endless storm. Its body was a mass of blood, as if it had been dismembered, but fortunately the titanium‑ultimate golden body's defense was extremely strong, preventing fatal damage.

At a thought, the wounds on its body healed instantly.

"Those attacks…"

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon shook its head, meaning it could endure them; an ordinary legendary transcendent would probably have turned into a pile of shredded flesh by now.

The most terrifying were the psychic attacks, which were exempted by the Will of Truth.

At this moment, by triangulating with other Thunder-cast Divine Weapons, it confirmed its position—not far, on the sea about two hundred li east of the southern side of the Southern Continent. It used a teleportation technique, precisely fixing the destination, and the next second it returned to its original spot.

"How was I moved onto the sea?"

In the He Palace office, Lei En was also pondering.

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon's Key of Doors had reached the eighth ring, allowing it to ignore spatial seals; enemy spacetime spells cast at it would be outright exempt if below the eighth ring, and even above the eighth ring it possessed extremely high resistance.

Yet just now, the Thunder-cast Divine Weapon gave no reaction and was teleported onto the sea surface.

The Key of Doors' exemption did not work at all.

Lei En stroked his chin, and quickly formed a rough hypothesis in his mind.

"Try it again and we'll know."

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon drained its energy, restoring its condition to peak, and re‑entered the invisible barrier. This time, as soon as it stepped into the range it accelerated at full force, becoming a bolt of lightning racing through the forest, while the All-Seeing Eye and the Key of Doors operated at their limits, and the other Thunder-cast Divine Weapons fixed their gazes on it.

Boom—

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon burst through the invisible barrier for about two thousand meters, and its figure vanished again.

It was thrown into another sea region, this time to the northeast of the Southern Continent, a bit farther away. In an instant, the Thunder-cast Divine Weapon returned, its injuries rapidly healing, and it clutched several leaves in its hand that had been tossed into the sea together.

"I see."

This time, Lei En and the Thunder-cast Divine Weapon both saw clearly.

He had another Thunder-cast Divine Weapon try again, and the result was the same; this one's strength was slightly weaker, charging only about fifteen hundred meters before being thrown out, though its position shifted, appearing near the canal.

"It must be random," Lei En thought, nodding to himself, having roughly figured out how the Ancient Holy Altar's barrier operates.

This invisible barrier employs a passive defense mechanism.

When an intruder first enters, it does not retaliate immediately; it only uses muttering and psychic suggestions to drive the invader away. If that fails, and the enemy penetrates to a certain range or contacts a certain binding force, the Ancient Holy Altar will truly launch an attack.

The Ancient Holy Altar locks onto the intruder, shifting the target and its surrounding space elsewhere, reappearing at a random location within three hundred li.

This is similar to "spatial transposition".

Because the surrounding space was shifted together, the Thunder-cast Divine Weapon was not the primary spell target, so the Key of Doors' exemption did not trigger.

Back at BrewotzAcademy, he and Sabbath Dean were, by Augulevi Master, spatially transposed and teleported to that unknown minor plane, similarly.

The Thunder-cast Divine Weapon's second attempt intentionally moved forward in the forest, and the branches and leaves tossed into the sea proved this hypothesis.

However, the Ancient Holy Altar's spatial transposition does not require pre‑setting a teleport destination.

Moreover, during the shift, the transposed space is sliced by a magical force like a series of blades, accompanied by psychic attacks.

This is more lethal than ordinary spatial transposition!

"That's troublesome."

Lei En stroked his chin, feeling it was very tricky; after long thought he could not devise a solution.

The Southern Continent had been sealed for over twenty thousand years; such a mysterious land surely saw countless strong beings attempt to break it—dragons and giants of the Second Epoch, those primeval dragons and titan elders, demigods; elven Grand Mages of the Third Epoch, countless others who explored the Southern Continent.

And the gods themselves seemed somewhat wary!

Nevertheless, the Southern Continent remains mysterious; Lei En dares not claim he is stronger than all historic peak masters, so he has little confidence.

In the following days, ten Thunder-cast Divine Weapons continuously assaulted the invisible barrier, attempting it hundreds of times.

But every time, they were all shifted out.

The best case, a Thunder-cast Divine Weapon only breached the Southern Continent by about two thousand five hundred meters, and according to Lei En's assessment, the invisible barrier's width is at least ten thousand li, perhaps even farther, making a breakthrough seem far beyond reach.

After days of trying various methods, even attempting a downward breakthrough from the sky, all efforts were futile, and Lei En felt somewhat discouraged.

But he did not consider giving up.

Lei En kept scrolling through data on his phone; records of the Ancient Holy Altar were scant, only a few lines, and this history from twenty‑to‑thirty thousand years ago would be overlooked even by trolls' archaeology and history experts, who were unaware of the Altar's existence.

The most important source of information remained the Ancient Holy Altar on the Storm Plane, those rune arrays…

"Hum?"

Lei En suddenly thought that the Southern Continent's area is only slightly smaller than the New Continent's, roughly three times that of the Storm Plane, so the number of Ancient Holy Altars sealing the whole continent must be great.

Fifteen, maybe even twenty, could exist!

The Ancient Holy Altars are not all identical; there are main altars and ordinary ones. Though their rune arrays are indecipherable, some principles are common with magical rune formations, and many arrays serve to gather energy from other altars, maintaining the system's balance.

This suggests a possibility: the Southern Continent's sealing barrier is not uniformly consistent; perhaps a weak spot exists somewhere!

Like a weak point on a magical shield.

If a particular Ancient Holy Altar malfunctions or is damaged, breaching the barrier would become much easier.

"Damn!"

Lei En slapped his thigh, wondering why he hadn't thought of it earlier, having foolishly broken through the southern wall at one spot; he should have changed his thinking long ago.

The Southern Continent's vast size means ten Thunder-cast Divine Weapons are insufficient; the efficiency is too low.

After a moment.

With a boom, an Empire-class Star Destroyer leapt to the high skies south of the Toriho Canal, opened its hangar doors, and released five hundred Thunder-cast Divine Weapons. It then leapt again to the western shore of the Southern Continent, deploying another batch of Thunder-cast Divine Weapons.

The Star Destroyer circled the southern continent's coast, jumping from north to south then east, deploying a total of five thousand thunder-forged divine weapons along the lengthy coastline to begin exploration.

Many hands make light work.

Half a day later, Lei En's face in the Fubeideng Imperial Palace lit up with surprise and joy; the flaw in the Ancient Sacred Altar had indeed been found!

(End of chapter)