Chapter 200.1: The Fortune Teller

After parting ways with Thunder, Qi Yuan stayed in the divine temple, living quietly. As he waited for the day of departure to the Ancestral Land, he seldom went out.

He also genuinely found it surprising that quite a few people signed up to participate. For these villagers, entering the Ancestral Land was almost a death sentence. Nine out of ten people could end up dying, yet over fifty people volunteered.

In the end, the ones chosen to enter the Ancestral Land were Yulei, Shen Tu, Shi Zhongshan of Stone Village, Chen Xifan of Chenxi Village, Zhu Zhuangshi, and three others. All of them were prominent figures in Qi Yuan’s territory.

***

One day, before the divine temple, Qi Yuan casually asked the eight villagers, "You’re really not afraid of death?"

Zhu Zhuangshi shrugged. "Compared to death, I am more afraid of being trampled by a dog for the rest of my life!"

As a member of the Ancient Clan, Zhu Zhuangshi naturally knew how dangerous the Ancestral Land was. The True Gods’ mortality rate in the Ancestral Land exceeded fifty percent. Even Great Venerable powerhouses had records of dying there.

Still, how was he supposed to catch a tiger's cub without entering the tiger's den? If he didn’t even have the courage to follow his god into the Ancestral Land, how could he hope to receive a visualization art?

Shi Zhongshan protested beside him, "Old Zhu, don’t insult my sworn brother!"

Zhu Zhuangshi shot him a look of disdain. "If I’m lucky enough to obtain a God Visualization Art this time, then you’ll be worse than pigs and dogs!"

Everyone burst into laughter. The fear of going to the precarious domain dissipated quite a bit.

"Alright. Since the entrance to the Ancestral Land has already opened, stop dawdling. We..." Qi Yuan paused briefly, then waved his hand. "...Go in and come back quickly!"

He had always been a man of action. Once he made a plan, he executed it.

"Alright!"

Yulei took a deep drag from his dry tobacco pipe, and placed it against the wall of the divine temple. The other villagers were equally fired up.

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan looked at Thunder. "If things go fast, I’ll be back in a day or two. If slow, four or five days. Clearwater Village will be in your hands, Old Thunder."

"Does ‘old’ really mean venerable and respected?"

"Yes! Cultivators don’t lie to cultivators." Qi Yuan nodded seriously, saying extremely sincerely, "Before you kill someone, just shout ‘Old Thunder is here!’ The aura alone is insane."

Thunder patted his sleeves. Seeing Qi Yuan was about to leave, he blurted with emotions, "I’ll reluctantly believe you. May you be like the stars, brilliant and steadfast, illuminating the heavens."

Above the myriad worlds, stars and moon shone bright, the Milky Way hanging across the sky.

"Why are you suddenly getting poetic? Were you a literary youth in your younger days?" Qi Yuan eyed him suspiciously. Then he added, "I’m uncultured, so I’ll just wish for you to have ten thousand strings of cash and immortality."

Thunder shot him a look of disdain. "Who are you cursing?

Just

ten thousand?"

Qi Yuan said offhandedly, "Don't be too greedy."

After bidding farewell to Thunder and the others, Qi Yuan followed Yulei and Shen Tu to an ancient well north of the village. Its bottom couldn't be seen. A faint, eerie glow shimmered along its rim, making it especially unsettling at night.

Shen Tu stepped forward and dripped a drop of blood into the well. The dim light instantly flared brightly.

Qi Yuan felt a dense fluctuation of spatial power. He looked intrigued. "A teleportation array?"

He had seen many formations in the Canglan World, but never a teleportation array. The phenomenon felt similar to the teleportation arrays from his memories.

Yulei nodded. "Yes, it's been here since ancient times. It can transport us to the Ancestral Land."

Qi Yuan’s curiosity deepened. "What’s the principle behind teleportation arrays? Spatial laws?"

This was something he had long wondered about. Back in the Canglan World, he had once asked why there were no teleportation arrays. Lord Withered Tree had explained that the Great Dao of Spatial Laws could not be mastered by anyone below the Yang Spirit realm. That was why, when he saw the teleportation arrays in the Moonlight Kingdom, he held the lofty Lord Moon God in even higher regard.

Following that, Shen Tu explained, "Teleportation arrays have nothing to do with spatial laws."

"

Huh

?" Qi Yuan was stunned. "Doesn’t controlling spatial laws let you rip open space and escape?"

Shen Tu explained carefully, "Ripping open space opens the Great Void. Any who enter with a physical body risk being dissolved. However, when you become a True God, you can condense a primordial soul. With the soul leaving the body, you can also enter the Great Void. Still, that doesn't mean you can use it for travel. In fact, walking for a decade in the Great Void covers less distance than a single day in the real world. The realm entered through teleportation arrays to reach one’s destination was called the Dark Void. It’s the opposite of the Great Void. Though its coordinates correspond one-to-one with the real world, it covers extremely short distances."

Qi Yuan began to understand. The shortest distance between two points on a flat plane was a straight line. Like folding a sheet of paper, the Dark Void brought two distant points closer together. It sounded a lot like the wormholes from his memories.

"You’re just a Core Formation cultivator, how do you know so much?" Qi Yuan stared at Shen Tu with amusement. "Are you some kind of tutorial NPC?"

Shen Tu replied, "As a priest, I've inherited these memories from the moment I was born."

"I get it." Qi Yuan sighed. "That’s your setting. Everyone has their own. This is true in both game and reality. Let’s go. Enter the teleportation array."

In no time at all, the dozen or so people entered the array.

Qi Yuan immediately felt as though everyone was wrapped in a transparent membrane. Looking out through it, all he could see was pitch-black darkness.

Shen Tu sighed. "This is the Dark Void. There is no light or sound."

It was also his first time using a teleportation array. Once they reached a certain level, cultivators could see without light,but not even they could see or hear anything in the Dark Void. The only sounds that could be heard were the voices of those inside the teleportation array.

Qi Yuan gazed outward as well. It was pure darkness.

[Teleportation Array. This is a special creation. Capable of traveling through the Dark Void.]

All he could perceive was the teleportation array itself. Unable to see the Dark Void directly, he couldn’t obtain any useful information. If vision was blocked, what about sound?

He closed his eyes and listened carefully. After all, back in the Canglan World, his ears could hear Ning Tao’s voice from the Flowing Wind World. Time passed second by second.

Suddenly, several urgent voices entered Qi Yuan’s ears.

"

Tamarians will never be slaves!

"

"

Hurry! We’ve discovered a world up ahead. Occupy it and sell it fast. With my savings from these past tens of thousands of years, it should just about cover Little Ning’s tuition!

"

"

Too bad it’s not a primordial world. Those can be stored directly inside the body.

"

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"

As expected, real men are born inferior. How can they compare to creations refined through countless generations?

"

The voices echoed suddenly and disappeared just as fast. Still, they sounded rather interesting.

Qi Yuan opened his eyes, curiosity flickering within them. He gazed into the darkness. "There are quite a few people in this Dark Void."

The villagers around him exchanged looks. "Lord God, where are these people?"

"In the Dark Void."

As soon as he said that, a faint glow flashed. Their journey ended. Qi Yuan and the others were about to exit the Dark Void and enter the Ancestral Land.