I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 915 The Entrance to the Material World of the Thirty-Three Heavens

Zhang Chen's eyes were filled with disbelief. He had actually sensed the aura of the Thirty-Three Heavens underground. Could it be that the new world entrance discovered by the Great Victory Court was actually the legendary entrance to the Thirty-Three Heavens?
But how difficult is it for the material world to open a passage to the spiritual world? Even without the Golden Scissors, the Empress could not break through the barrier between the material and spiritual worlds.

Zhang Chen's heart was pounding wildly. If there really was an entrance to the Thirty-Third Heaven in the real world, then things would be very serious. What if those great terrors in the spiritual world emerged from the passage?
Those are all beings beyond the twelfth rank. Should I ascend or not? If I don't ascend to the ultimate realm, I will never be able to defeat them. But once I break through to the Dao Fruit realm, my essence, energy, and spirit will dissipate, and I will only die.

Zhang Chen realized he was in big trouble, not just any ordinary trouble!

Then I saw him take steps down the underground steps. The steps were spacious, at least ten times wider than the staircases of later generations. On both sides were lamps made from the oil of demonic beasts, which could burn for a hundred years and illuminate the entire passage as bright as day.

The further down he went, the more Zhang Chen could sense the refined energy permeating the air—a unique essence of heaven and earth from the Thirty-Three Heavens.

“There must be a passage to the spiritual world here! The so-called new world of the Great Victory Dynasty is actually the spiritual world, but I don’t know which realm this spiritual world leads to.” Zhang Chen was certain that the underground passage was indeed the passage to the spiritual world.

Zhang Chen walked down the passage and saw that each level of the passage had a door, behind which were rows of passages that seemed to have no end, with doors on both sides of the passages.

He could sense that within each portal, a continuous breath was absorbing the mysterious power in the air, and someone was cultivating inside that portal.

Noticing Zhang Chen's gaze, Bu Er explained, "Those portals are the rooms where various geniuses cultivate in seclusion. Each room has a genius in seclusion. Young Master, you will also have a room in the future where you can cultivate to increase your bloodline and strengthen your soul, which has incredible benefits."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen asked curiously, "There are quite a few rooms here, so it seems there are quite a few people entering the Mysterious Academy."

"The Great Victory Dynasty selected a total of 360 outstanding talents from all over the country. Most of the rooms here are empty, and only one percent are occupied," Bu Er said.

"Why are those rooms empty? Why not hire more people?" Zhang Chen asked.

Fuji shook his head: "That's not something a lowly person like me could know."

The two walked through the staircases and arrived at the seventy-second underground floor. They stopped at the entrance of the staircase and saw a long corridor with rooms on both sides of it, their doors tightly closed.

"Please follow me." Fuji led the way, and Zhang Chen followed behind him through the passage, feeling as if he were entering a prison.

Zhang Chen could sense that the concentration of mysterious power inside the seventy-second underground space was dozens of times higher than outside.

The passageway was dark and deep. The two walked for hundreds of meters, passing through countless rooms, until they arrived at a strange room. In front of the room, there was a lantern they had never seen before. The lantern emitted a pale yellow light, and the light it emitted had a mysterious power flowing through it. Even in the land of Kyoto where dragon energy breaks all laws, there was still a mysterious power that could be mobilized. There were seven such lanterns, one in front of each of the seven rooms.

"These are the residences of seven teachers within the academy. Each door with a lit lantern represents one teacher." He then approached the seventh lantern and knocked on the door.
"Sir, Young Master Zhang Chen has arrived."

The door opened, revealing Zhou Qiucheng's face. He looked at Zhang Chen with a joyful expression and pulled Zhang Chen into the house, saying, "You've finally arrived."

The room is about fifty square meters in size. The walls are decorated with shimmering luminous pearls that illuminate the entire room, making it appear bright and airy.

The room was simply furnished, with only a table, a bookshelf in front of it, and some writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. There was also a small bed in the corner, and nothing else.

“I’ve already made arrangements for you. You can enroll directly. However, the allocation of rooms is a bit complicated. It will depend on your contribution to get a room. For now, you can only be assigned a room in an outer pavilion.” Zhou Qiucheng explained everything about the academy to Zhang Chen: “The most crucial thing now is to resolve your identity issue. Only by resolving your identity issue can we eliminate this major threat.”

“The Emperor said that I must make meritorious contributions within the academy to resolve my status issue. Please teach me, sir,” Zhang Chen said.

Upon hearing Zhang Chen's words, Zhou Qiucheng said, "I have already planned this matter for you. Currently, the academy has encountered several obstacles in exploring the new world. As long as you overcome one of these obstacles, you will have made a great contribution, and it will be natural for the emperor to pardon your crimes." Zhang Chen nodded upon hearing this, and Zhou Qiucheng was indeed thoughtful: "Thank you, sir."

"Do we need to say thank you between us?" Zhou Qiucheng said with a smile.

As they were talking, Zhou Qiucheng walked to the table and said, "This is top-secret information about the new world. I have prepared it for you. I will explain it to you as you read it."

Zhang Chen picked up the documents on the table and quietly flipped through them. Zhou Qiucheng explained to Zhang Chen from the side: "The Great Sheng Dynasty discovered this place eight hundred years ago. This place is an ancient tomb. The tomb is full of traps and dangers. Mysterious energy is constantly surging out from the depths of the tomb. Later, the Great Sheng royal family used the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Demon-Slaying Shuttle to forcibly break into the tomb. In the deepest part of the tomb, they discovered a passage to a new world. Then the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Demon-Slaying Shuttle was severely damaged and destroyed. It was handed over to the little princess Chai Wenji."

"After losing the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Demon-Slaying Shuttle, the Great Victory Royal Family was unable to break through the last world barrier. Everyone could only look at the new world through the barrier, but could not enter it. An ancestor of the royal family once said that there were countless exotic flowers and herbs in the world behind the barrier, countless spiritual medicines that could prolong life, and even some spiritual medicines that could directly enable people to step into the twelfth rank," Zhou Qiucheng said.

"There are eight obstacles between this passage and the barrier of that world. Five have been overcome so far, leaving six more. While overcoming these obstacles, the academy unearthed countless mysterious treasures, each imbued with incredible power. The Great Victory Dynasty is sending students to explore how to use these treasures, which is also the original purpose of the academy's establishment." Zhou Qiucheng said, turning to Zhang Chen, "If you can overcome one of the last two obstacles, or even just figure out how to use one of the treasures, you will have rendered a great service, and the King will have an excuse to pardon your crimes."

"Sir, you said this place is a large tomb?" Zhang Chen asked, glancing at the documents.

“Indeed, long ago there was an incredible being who wanted to enter the new world. He built altars and set up great formations, hoping to break into the new world and seek fortune. Unfortunately, he was outmaneuvered and fell before the world barrier. He then turned this place into a great curtain, and then this ruin was discovered by the Great Victory Royal Family,” Zhou Qiucheng said.

With Zhang Chen's current knowledge, he immediately analyzed the key point: it must be that in the past, the world underwent a great change and could no longer accommodate cultivators of higher realms. Some people were not strong enough to ascend to the spiritual world on their own, so they chose to rely on external forces to open a passage between the material world and the spiritual world. Thus, they built a great array here, but unfortunately, in the end, they failed and fell in front of the world barrier.

After glancing at the documents in his hand, Zhang Chen turned to look at Zhou Qiucheng, a strange look in his eyes. He thought of the Queen Mother of the West. The people of the Great Victory Dynasty were just like the Queen Mother of the West, truly and utterly unlucky. The Queen Mother of the West had miscalculated the coordinates and entered the wrong world, causing her to be buried in that world and unable to climb out.

"The Queen Mother of the West back then probably misjudged the target, just like the Great Victory Dynasty, and gambled everything, only to get herself into trouble!" This thought arose in Zhang Chen's mind.

As various thoughts raced through his mind, Zhou Qiucheng said, "The situation is roughly like this: do you choose to decipher the secret treasure unearthed from the great tomb, or do you choose to break through the barrier before the world barrier?"

Upon hearing Zhou Qiucheng's words, Zhang Chen smiled: "Now that I'm here, of course I have to see the legendary new world. I'm quite curious about an unknown world."

Zhou Qiucheng nodded upon hearing this: "Alright, I'll take you there now."

The two walked out of Zhou Qiucheng's room, past the seven lights at the end of the passage, where there was a deep darkness that was so dark that the bottom could not be seen.

"The room we were in just now was merely the entrance to the great tomb. What follows is the real entry into the underground palace, through that subterranean world, and infinitely close to the world barrier," Zhou Qiucheng explained to Zhang Chen from the front.

Zhou Qiucheng paused here: "On your way here, you must have seen many passages, and there must have been many rooms in those passages, right?"

“That’s right!” Zhang Chen nodded to indicate that he had seen it.

“In each room lies a mystery, some incomplete, some unsolvable, waiting for the destined one,” Zhou Qiucheng said.

"There's a mystery in every room?" Zhang Chen was stunned upon hearing this.

How many rooms did he see along the way? How profound was the foundation of the Great Victory Dynasty?
"When this great tomb was opened in the past, it was discovered that there were too many mysterious objects inside, including many immortal and strange things. They were sent to the Linglong Pagoda in Jinling and imprisoned there," Zhou Qiucheng explained.

(End of this chapter)