Monsters Die When Killed

"Otherworld travel?"

The Daoist Saint and Shao Qiming both cried out in surprise at the same time, but for entirely different reasons.

One was shocked that this was the reason for Su Zhou’s disappearance for nearly three months, while the other was stunned that Su Zhou had just blurted it out.

’I specifically reminded you not to say anything yet! The situation wasn’t that dire!’

Noticing Shao Qiming’s annoyed expression at having his hint ignored, Su Zhou silently apologized in his mind.

Revealing that he could travel to other worlds wasn’t something Su Zhou did on a whim. He had been considering this issue ever since he returned from the Divine Wood World.

His power would often spike unexpectedly, and he would occasionally bring back powerful, bizarre equipment and Extraordinary Materials. At lower levels, he could still get away with excuses like, ’I’m just naturally strong!’ chalking it up to ’Talent,’ ’an epiphany,’ or ’I got lucky and found it on the side of the road.’ But at the High Tiers, where Cultivation tended to stabilize over long periods, such sudden progress was undoubtedly a glaring anomaly.

So, Su Zhou had decided long ago that he would reveal the information once he reached a high position within the Zhengguo System, or when he no longer feared conventional modern military forces. Of course, if no one asked, he wouldn’t bring it up himself. It wasn’t that he was unwilling, but mainly because there was no need.

And now, he was a Professor of Zhengguo, which counted as a high-level position. The Daoist Saint was personally asking about the situation. And his strength had reached the Commander Tier. All three conditions were met.

Commander Tier strength might still be a concern against thermonuclear weapons, but if it came down to it, Su Zhou could simply hide in the ocean. The world was his to roam. No power on Earth could force him to submit through military might, and presumably, no power would be stupid enough to make an enemy of someone with his strength.

In any case, his disappearance from the Main World for nearly three months was impossible to casually cover up. It was better to just be honest.

Thinking about how time had actually passed in the real world during this trip, Su Zhou couldn’t help but communicate with Yara in his mind. "Yara, Yara, what happened?"

"Isn’t it obvious? You ran into an incarnation of the Silent Lord. With It there, how was my true form supposed to use the Torrent of time to smooth out the temporal ripples between the two worlds?"

In response, Yara rolled her eyes, shifting her coiled position inside Su Zhou’s coat pocket. "On top of that, you pulled off something as huge as creating a New Era and reshaping a New World at the end. The resulting Void fluctuations were even greater. Even without the Silent Lord, there still would have been an abnormal time flow."

’Oh, right.’ Yara’s words served as a sudden reminder for Su Zhou. ’I forgot that Yara isn’t the strongest of the Great Beings. If I travel to other worlds with a high degree of erosion in the future, I’ll have to be mindful of time-related problems.’

Su Zhou didn’t shield this thought from Yara, and the Snake Spirit immediately became exasperated. "Hey, hey, watch your mouth! It’s one thing for everyone to know I’m not the strongest, but what do you mean by saying it out loud?!"

The exchange with Yara took place in his Soul Space and lasted only an instant. In the real world, the conversation between the Daoist Saint and Su Zhou was still going.

"Otherworld travel... Su Zhou, are you saying that your recent disappearance was because you were, for some reason, transported to another world, is that right?"

After hearing Su Zhou’s firm confirmation, the old man nodded grimly. "I didn’t expect something like this would happen to you, too. What a coincidence."

Su Zhou: "?"

’What does he mean, "happen to you, too"? Don’t tell me there are other people in this world who can cross over?’

Su Zhou blinked, looking at Shao Qiming with a puzzled expression. Shao Qiming just shook his head with a complicated look, as if to say that since the cat was out of the bag, there was nothing more he could do.

Soon, the Daoist Saint turned on the TV to a news broadcast, and Shao Qiming handed Su Zhou’s phone, which he had been holding onto, back to its owner. Between the newscaster’s report and a few taps on his phone, Su Zhou quickly got up to speed on the recent situation on Earth.

Back in March 2016, around Valentine’s Day, during the ten-odd days Su Zhou was missing in the Reincarnation World, a great number of massive Pocket World Secret Realms, like the Kunlun Secret Realm, had begun opening one after another across Earth due to the Spiritual Energy Revival. This triggered a chain reaction, causing an even larger number of High-level Secret Realms—and even the ’All Heavens Realm’—to open automatically, long before any of Earth’s powers were prepared for them.

This spatial chain reaction, dubbed the "Valentine’s Day Anomaly," was like a line of dominoes. The massive Pocket World Secret Realms like the Kunlun Secret Realm were the first to fall. Their opening led to the appearance of numerous Small Secret Realms, which in turn triggered the activation of other large ones... In an instant, Earth’s entire Spiritual Qi environment was thrown into turmoil by the large-scale opening of these various secret realms and Realms.

"For example, the Realm once ruled by the Celestial Pool Dragon King, the ’Celestial Pool Realm,’ opened three weeks ago. The entrance is located above its corpse, in an area roughly two thousand meters deep in the ocean."

The Daoist Saint then activated a terminal on his arm that resembled an oversized watch. It was a personal terminal that had only recently become operational. Layers of mechanical structures unfolded from it, forming an electronic screen like that of a small laptop.

He held the unfolded screen in front of Su Zhou so he could read some of the classified data. "We’ve been extremely busy with all sorts of things lately, so we haven’t dispatched a team of Masters to investigate yet. However, drone surveillance has revealed that it’s an incredibly vast ’ocean world,’ with almost ninety-five percent of its surface covered by water. It’s rich with Spiritual Qi resources and teeming with sea life possessing Spiritual Energy."

"Incredible..."

Taking in one stunning piece of news after another, Su Zhou couldn’t help but scratch his head. He glanced over the information on the Daoist Saint’s terminal and clicked his tongue. "Things are this chaotic? Just how much big news did I miss?"

In fact, it wasn’t just Zhengguo.

Other regions and countries around the world experienced similar situations.

The chain reaction of so many spatial Secret Realms opening even caused spacetime chaos on a global scale.

When these great Pocket World Secret Realms or the All Heavens Realm opened, random bystanders—often people who were thousands of miles away, sometimes even on the opposite side of Earth—would get caught in the spacetime fluctuations and pulled into those new worlds.

For instance, the Daoist Saint knew of one fellow from Zhengguo—it was hard to say if he was lucky or unlucky—who got swept up in the spacetime fluctuations when the Celestial Pool Realm opened and was transported into that world.

The man was a streamer whose broadcasts happened to feature outdoor survival and cooking whatever he could forage. He was transported mid-stream; his image dissolved into a screen of static, and he vanished. The government quickly noticed the anomaly. He was also incredibly lucky, ending up near an island in the Celestial Pool Realm. After a struggle, he made it to shore and survived in the wilderness there for two months.①

It had to be said that thanks to the benefits of the Citizen Points System and the popularization of Cultivation, any adult citizen of Zhengguo now possessed formidable wilderness survival skills. After all, everyone knew a few simple magic techniques for civilian use and had the physical fitness of a Level 2 athlete from before the Spiritual Energy Revival. Even if transported to an Otherworld, their chances of survival were extremely high; they wouldn’t die easily.

Due to a shortage of manpower, the Zhengguo Government was temporarily unable to mount a rescue. The streamer is still surviving in the wild on that island in the Celestial Pool Realm. However, the government has sent him plenty of survival equipment and supplies via drone, and even gave him a Spiritual Energy Camera so he could film his wilderness survival experience.

The footage would not only serve as research material on the Otherworld, but also as educational content for the general public. The streamer, for his part, saw this as a golden opportunity to become a huge star. He naturally agreed with delight, wishing he could stay in the Otherworld even longer.

And this was the prelude to what the internet was now calling the ’Great Crossing Era.’

After explaining all this to Su Zhou, the Daoist Saint sighed. "So, you see, luck is a truly fickle thing... To think that you, Professor Su, also happened to be caught in the spacetime fluctuations. I wonder which world you were sent to."

Su Zhou: "Ah, um... about that, I’m not really sure myself."

Noticing Shao Qiming’s exasperated, sigh-like expression, Su Zhou—the king of blurting out his own secrets—instantly understood why his friend had tried to warn him earlier. ’So that’s what’s been happening on Earth! There was no need to spill the beans so soon!’

’If I mention the Celestial God Scale now, things will just get even more complicated!’

’I’ll deal with it later. No need to rush.’

After a moment’s thought, Su Zhou decided there was no need to drop another bombshell on the Zhengguo Government, which was already overwhelmed by the opening of so many Secret Realms and Realms. So, he said, "I was just transported to a strange Relic World full of Undead, ruins, and Demons everywhere. I had a good fight with a group of Magical Beasts and got a lot out of it."

"As it happened, I just found a temporary teleportation portal that seemed to lead back to Earth, so I came straight through."

As he spoke, Su Zhou showed the ancient-looking Blade of Annihilation in his hand to the Daoist Saint. He activated the Divine Blade’s aura, creating an Anomaly of Flame and Thunderbolt, effectively giving the Divine Weapon a legitimate backstory.

"I see. Hmm, this weapon... is very powerful!"

The Blade of Annihilation was a Divine Weapon, after all. The Daoist Saint recognized its extraordinary nature at a glance. The black-haired old man’s eyes lit up as he said in admiration, "This long blade may look pristine, but it has actually slain many powerful creatures. Not only is it wreathed in an indescribable Power of Human Sacrifice, but its materials are also exceptional. Su Zhou, it seems you’ve found a relic from the Immortal God Era."

With that, the Daoist Saint looked away from the Blade of Annihilation. He turned to Su Zhou, his interest piqued. "I have a general idea of the situation now. We can discuss the specifics in detail later at the Security Bureau office... Did you find anything else? And also, how dangerous was that Otherworld?"

As he spoke, he motioned for Su Zhou and Shao Qiming to follow. The three of them walked out of the Shao Family’s Old Mansion, where a plain, unassuming black luxury car was waiting.

There was no driver in the car; it was an autonomous driving system guided by a combination of artificial intelligence and Magic Techniques. After the Daoist Saint stated the address, the car started on its own and slowly pulled away.

"Oh, that world was plenty dangerous. There were lots of powerful Magical Beasts. I even suffered a major injury at their hands."

As soon as he was in the car, he started bragging. The "law-abiding citizen" Su Zhou settled comfortably into the back seat and buckled his seatbelt. "Things were pretty grim back then, I tell you. If I hadn’t managed a breakthrough in the heat of battle, I might not have made it back!"

Su Zhou even nodded with deep feeling as he said this. But since he didn’t look even slightly injured, both the Daoist Saint and Shao Qiming merely hummed in acknowledgment, showing no major emotional response.

Then, the young man continued his recollection. "And thanks to that grievous injury, I’ve now managed to cross the threshold into the Commander Tier."

CRACK—

It was the sound of necks whipping around, joints cracking audibly.

An astonished Daoist Saint and a shocked Shao Qiming whipped their heads around in unison to stare at Su Zhou.

"What did you say?"

Thinking he’d misheard, the old man shook his head violently. If the car hadn’t been self-driving, his sudden movement probably would have startled a driver. "I must be hearing things... Professor Su, could you please say that again?"

"Oh, I said I’ve probably broken through to the Commander Tier."

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