From the end of the world

Chapter 753 The World's Cage
We all gathered in front of the portal, and Fa Zheng told us about the results of his adjustments to the portal.

“The portal cannot be activated,” he said seriously.

Jian Feixian frowned deeply, Ma Zao's expression changed, and Zhu Shi blurted out, "Unable to start... Why? Is there some major malfunction in this portal? Or is there something wrong with how Yu Chi explained how to restart the portal?"

Aside from those two directions, there is actually another possibility. Zhu Shi must have thought of it too, but this possibility was so terrible that she didn't say it aloud.

As if seeing through Zhu Shi's thoughts, Fa Zheng sighed deeply and said, "This portal has not malfunctioned. The method for restarting that Yu Chi gave me was explained in great detail. There is only one reason why the portal cannot be restarted, and that is that the 'exit' has been destroyed."

"As expected..." Jian Feixian's voice was gloomy.

The passage connecting the world of the living and the world of the dead in Luoshan consists of two portals, serving as each other's entrance and exit. If we define our portal as the entrance, then the one in the real world is the exit. If the latter is destroyed, the former cannot be restarted, and the passage cannot be formed. Two points are needed to form a line; a single point remains isolated.

In other words, we are now trapped in the afterlife.

Because the entrance to the fifteenth-floor basement was used as a crafting material for a portal, and consequently, the point where the basement itself borders the afterlife was also covered by the portal, I can no longer use the route I took to leave the afterlife last time. If Yuchi were here, perhaps he could come up with some solutions…

Incidentally, the teleportation array at Dushuo Mountain is also something I cannot recreate using my spiritual power, because it involves changes in the power of the divine seal fragments. Even if I could create another teleportation portal as an exit using my spiritual power, I would first need to be in the real world to complete the setup. The current situation is that I can't get through, and the problem becomes a vicious cycle.

Speaking of which, before the road to the afterlife was opened, how did the Gospel House overcome this problem?

After a little thought, it becomes clear that it was probably Yama Ryougi who was involved. The afterlife is a spacetime where no new life is born, so Yama Ryougi likely couldn't reincarnate there. Therefore, he must have been born in the real world first. Then, probably to avoid the Old Fist God's need, he thought of going to the afterlife to hide.

Without the teleportation array of Dushuo Mountain, it would be extremely difficult for Shan Liangyi to enter the afterlife. However, before the afterlife was sealed off, he must have entered and exited countless times, possibly leaving many of his own marks. Then, by relying on his third gate essence and using nothingness as a relay station, he could forcibly reach the afterlife, just like I did in the past.

Because nothingness has no concept of time, his approach carries a risk: he doesn't know which point in the afterlife he'll arrive at. But coincidentally, the current afterlife is a chaotic, post-apocalyptic spacetime where the concept of time is shattered, so this risk essentially doesn't exist. He may not have known this beforehand, yet he gained benefits from it. After arriving in the afterlife, he and Yama likely hit it off on the plan to exterminate humanity, and he conveniently joined the Gospel Institute.

Perhaps he left a mark of spacetime power in the real world, allowing him to return to the time and place he left at when he returned. This later became the target of the teleportation array of Mount Dushuo in the Gospel Institute... That's my guess.

As for who exactly destroyed the portal to our real world, there's no need to guess; it's probably Shan Liangyi.

Since he chose to escape, he must have anticipated that I would return to the real world through the portal to continue hunting him down. Although he didn't know where the portal to the afterlife was, he certainly knew about the real world. He himself admitted that he would sometimes secretly go and observe while Yuchi was building the portal.

"Does this mean we'll be trapped in the afterlife forever?" Zhu Shi seemed to be racking his brains.

“That’s unlikely.” Fa Zheng said calmly. “As far as I know, Shan Liangyi is a vengeful person. Although he destroyed the portal in the real world to prevent Zhuang Cheng from pursuing him, he will most likely return to fight back after he has adjusted his condition. He destroyed the portal not because he was really afraid of Zhuang Cheng, but because he wanted to buy himself time to fully digest the Vermilion Bird Seed.”

"The exit he used to enter the afterlife before was probably the monstrous Yomi, but that Yomi has now been destroyed by Asahi. So if he wants to connect to another exit in the afterlife, he will likely use our Rozan's, which is the portal in front of us."

"In other words... will the Mountain Two Elements automatically restart the portal for us?" Zhu Shi pondered.

"It's also possible he won't have that chance," Jian Feixian poured cold water on the idea. "Once Shan Liangyi is fully prepared, his first target for revenge will most likely not be Zhuang Cheng, but the Old Fist God. That's his top priority. And if he loses again in his battle with the Old Fist God, no one will restart the portal to the afterlife. It's best not to count on Yu Chi on the other side either. Since Luo Shan's portal in the real world has been destroyed, Yu Chi is likely in grave danger."

Could Yuchi be dead? The man who once vowed to take revenge on the old boxing god... I recalled the scenes of my past interactions with him.

“Yes, staying in the afterlife to wait for Shan Liangyi is the worst option,” Fa Zheng agreed. “Unlike Zhuang Cheng, Shan Liangyi has a deeper understanding of the power of the Third Gate. Even if they are equally well-prepared, their advantage will be even greater. So we should try not to let them choose when to start the battle.”

"This is only a secondary reason. More importantly, Shan Liangyi may wipe out everyone in the real world who is related to Zhuang Cheng before launching another battle against him. Although he has an extremely strong sense of self-respect, he has no moral sense that he cannot kill the weak. He is extremely evil and could very well do such a thing out of revenge."

Zhu Shi's expression changed, while Ma Zao clenched her fists nervously and whispered, "Little bowl..."

Xiao Wan, Chang'an, and Master Zhu and Lu Chan are all now potentially exposed to the threat of the Mountain Two Elements.

I must return to the real world as soon as possible.

Looking at Fazheng's calm and composed expression, I suddenly realized what he meant and said, "Fazheng, you just said that staying in the afterlife is the worst option... Can I take that to mean you have other ideas?"

"Yes," Fa Zheng nodded. "To be precise, it's not that I have it, but that you do."

"Let me state upfront that although Shan Liangyi used spacetime power to return to the real world before, and I can indeed simulate spacetime power, I cannot do the same thing as him," I said. "Because the void portal he opened was paired with the teleportation array he set up in the real world, and the teleportation array of Dushuo Mountain involves changes in the power of the divine seal fragments, which I cannot simulate."

“Space-time power? Teleportation arrays? There’s no need for all that trouble.” Fa Zheng smiled. “You can directly return to the real world using ‘Wuji’… using nothingness as a relay station.”

“I admit I won’t die even if I enter the void, but the problem is I don’t have the means to do so,” I said. “Although I’ve witnessed the Yellow Springs and the Mountain Yin-Yang summoning portals to the void before, as I just said, that kind of method involves the power of divine seal fragments, which I cannot replicate… wait…”

I realized the key point.

It was also influenced by fixed thinking, because everyone has to go through a portal to enter and exit the closed afterlife, even the Yin and Yang realms have to rely on time and space methods to open the door, so I also felt that I had to do this.

Unlike Shan Liangyi, I am not proficient in the relevant techniques and knowledge. Perhaps Shan Liangyi can also open the door to nothingness by discarding the power of the divine seal fragments, but even if I could reproduce the same level of spacetime magic, I don't think I could do the same thing. It's like a wire that can pick a lock in the hands of a skilled thief, but in the hands of an ordinary person, it's just a simple wire. This is the difference in experience, and Xuanming's experience doesn't record any relevant information.

But from the very beginning, I didn't need to pick the lock or figure out how to "open the door".

I am a manifestation of the truth who can merge with and penetrate everything. There are no walls in this world that can block me, and there is no cage that can imprison me.

Even if this cage is called "The World," it's still the same.

(End of this chapter)