Chapter 72: The Omen of Two Realities
Three days after leaving Blue Stone City, Han Feng reached the desolate lands between the Western Region and the official entrance to the Central Region.
The closer he came to the border, the stranger the sky became.
Dark clouds gathered above the distant mountains.
Lightning crossed the heavens every few breaths.
But there was something unnatural about the storms.
The thunder came too late.
Sometimes the lightning flashed first, followed by silence.
Then, several breaths later, the sound of thunder would arrive.
Han Feng stopped walking.
He looked upward.
Another flash illuminated the clouds.
For the briefest instant, he saw something that shouldn't have been there.
A thin silver line.
Like a crack in glass.
It stretched across the sky before disappearing.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
"That wasn't lightning."
He remained still.
His spiritual sense spread outward.
Nothing.
The sky was normal again.
But the feeling remained.
Something was wrong with the world.
Not the spiritual energy.
Not the weather.
The laws themselves.
Han Feng slowly continued forward.
Inside his storage space, the Tear of the Black Sun rested within its jade container.
He had not refined it.
He had not merged it with his spiritual sea.
Yet its influence had not completely disappeared.
Since obtaining it, Han Feng occasionally experienced strange flashes of perception.
Memories that weren't his.
Places he had never visited.
And sometimes...
images that didn't seem to belong to the world he knew.
He had tried to investigate them.
Every attempt ended the same way.
A headache.
A fractured image.
And the feeling that something was looking back.
Han Feng had stopped forcing the issue.
For now.
The Jade Tear Canyon was less than half a day's journey away.
According to the map Old Mo had given him, an ancient Gu known as the Starry Wind Lotus was hidden somewhere inside.
The information was vague.
That alone made Han Feng suspicious.
Rare Gu were rarely found simply because someone followed a map.
There was always a reason.
A guardian.
A formation.
A previous owner.
Or a trap.
Still, Han Feng needed resources.
His Gu Master cultivation remained at Rank 2.
His Qi cultivation had reached Rank 4, but the gap between the two paths was becoming increasingly noticeable.
If he wanted to continue walking both paths simultaneously, he needed more compatible Gu.
The Starry Wind Lotus was supposedly one of them.
A defensive and offensive Gu capable of manipulating condensed wind into rotating lotus-shaped barriers.
If the records were accurate, it could complement his current abilities extremely well.
Han Feng reached the canyon before sunset.
The entrance was silent.
Too silent.
He crouched and touched the ground.
Dust.
Broken stone.
And blood.
Something had fought here recently.
Han Feng followed the trail.
Several dozen meters deeper, he found the remains.
Not human.
Spiritual beasts.
Three of them.
Their bodies had been torn apart.
The wounds were strange.
Not claws.
Not blades.
Not flame.
The flesh around the wounds had been crystallized.
Han Feng frowned.
He examined one of the bodies.
"Spatial distortion?"
He wasn't certain.
That was what made it dangerous.
He continued forward.
Then he saw it.
A fragment lying between two broken rocks.
It looked like part of a cocoon.
Transparent.
Almost crystalline.
But the material wasn't spiritual jade.
It wasn't Gu material.
It wasn't anything Han Feng recognized.
More importantly...
It was pulsing.
Once.
Twice.
Like a heartbeat.
Han Feng didn't touch it immediately.
He studied it for several breaths.
The Celestial Diagram reacted.
The Tear of the Black Sun reacted as well.
Han Feng's expression became serious.
"You're both interested."
That was enough to make him even more cautious.
He wrapped the fragment with a layer of Qi and lifted it without allowing direct contact.
Nothing happened.
Then the protective layer touched the crystal.
The world disappeared.
Darkness.
Not ordinary darkness.
A sky without stars.
Then—
One appeared.
A tiny point of silver light.
Another.
Then thousands.
Han Feng stood beneath a field of black stars.
There were enormous pillars floating in the distance.
Mountains moved slowly through the darkness like living creatures.
Something enormous crossed between them.
He couldn't see its shape.
Only its shadow.
A strange sensation entered his mind.
Not a voice.
A memory.
A concept.
Ancient Cultivation Planet.
Han Feng's pupils contracted.
Then the vision shattered.
He returned to the canyon.
His breathing was heavy.
The crystal fragment remained suspended before him.
Han Feng stared at it.
"Ancient cultivation planet..."
He repeated the words quietly.
The phrase felt familiar.
But not because he had heard it in this life.
It reminded him of something from Li Tianhao's memories.
Old stories.
Old fantasies.
A concept from another existence.
Except this image had not come from a book.
It had felt real.
Far too real.
Han Feng closed his hand.
"Another world?"
He immediately shook his head.
"No."
He refused to jump to conclusions.
One vision wasn't proof.
The Gu World already contained countless ancient mysteries.
There were hidden realms.
Spiritual remnants.
Formation spaces.
Memory techniques.
Even fragments of ancient will could create visions.
This could be another phenomenon entirely.
But there was one thing he couldn't deny.
The energy inside the fragment was different.
It didn't feel like Qi.
It didn't feel like Gu essence.
It didn't even feel like the resonance energy he had encountered in the ancient network.
It was...
foreign.
Han Feng placed the fragment into a sealed container.
"I'll figure you out later."
A voice answered from behind him.
"No."
Han Feng froze.
"You're going to figure it out now."
A figure stood on a broken stone pillar.
A young man.
White robes.
Long black hair.
Eyes as pale as polished jade.
He looked ordinary at first glance.
But Han Feng immediately sensed something wrong.
The man's presence didn't blend naturally with the environment.
It was as though the surrounding spiritual energy didn't know how to interact with him.
Han Feng's hand moved slightly.
The Celestial Veil activated.
The man noticed.
"You can hide your aura."
Han Feng stared at him.
"Who are you?"
The young man ignored the question.
His eyes remained fixed on the sealed container.
"You found the fragment."
"Apparently."
"Return it."
Han Feng smiled faintly.
"You came all this way to ask politely?"
The young man's expression didn't change.
"It doesn't belong here."
Han Feng's smile disappeared.
"Where does it belong?"
For the first time, hesitation appeared in the man's eyes.
Only for an instant.
Then it vanished.
"You shouldn't know that yet."
Han Feng's gaze sharpened.
"Yet?"
The man stepped from the pillar.
"You have already touched too many things."
"The ancient network."
"The Celestial Diagram."
"The Black Urn."
"And now this."
Han Feng's expression became completely still.
The man's eyes narrowed.
"So the rumors were correct."
Han Feng didn't answer.
He was already calculating.
The man knew about the Black Urn.
That alone made him dangerous.
More importantly...
Han Feng had never mentioned the Black Urn to anyone in the Western Region.
Not even Old Mo.
"Who sent you?"
"No one."
"Then who are you?"
The young man looked toward the sky.
For a moment, his expression became strangely distant.
"Someone who arrived too early."
Han Feng frowned.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"It is the only answer you are ready to understand."
The man's spiritual energy suddenly changed.
The air around him distorted.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
"Then I suppose I'll have to make you explain."
The young man disappeared.
Boom!
Han Feng barely raised the Abyssal Shield Gu before a palm struck his chest.
The impact sent him sliding backward across the stone.
His feet carved two deep lines into the ground.
Han Feng's expression became serious.
Fast.
He immediately activated Shadow Concealment.
His presence blurred.
The young man turned.
Too quickly.
His hand swept through the darkness.
Han Feng appeared several meters away.
A cut opened across his sleeve.
He looked at it.
No blood.
Barely missed.
"You're not using normal movement techniques."
The young man didn't answer.
He attacked again.
Han Feng summoned the Crimson Whirlwind.
A vortex of compressed wind erupted through the canyon.
The surrounding stones shattered.
The young man moved through the storm.
Not around it.
Through it.
The wind seemed to bend away from his body.
Han Feng's pupils contracted.
He isn't resisting the technique.
The laws around him are behaving differently.
That was more disturbing.
Han Feng changed tactics.
Instead of attacking directly, he used the terrain.
Three pillars collapsed.
The young man avoided the first.
Then the second.
The third exploded behind him.
Han Feng appeared in the dust.
His palm struck.
The young man blocked.
Boom!
Both were pushed backward.
Han Feng felt pain in his arm.
The young man looked at him.
"You're stronger than the records suggested."
"What records?"
No answer.
Another attack.
Han Feng retreated.
He couldn't win through raw strength.
His opponent was too strange.
But strange didn't mean invincible.
Han Feng's eyes shifted toward the sealed container.
The crystal fragment was reacting.
So was the Tear of the Black Sun.
He had an idea.
A dangerous one.
The young man attacked again.
Han Feng deliberately allowed his spiritual defense to weaken.
The man's palm approached his chest.
At the final moment—
Han Feng activated the Tear of the Black Sun's resonance.
He didn't release the relic itself.
He merely opened the connection.
The young man's expression changed.
For the first time, genuine emotion appeared in his eyes.
Surprise.
Then fear.
The world around them shifted.
The young man stopped moving.
His pupils became unfocused.
Han Feng saw what was happening.
The Tear wasn't creating a simple illusion.
It was touching memory.
The young man's consciousness had become trapped inside a repeating fragment.
A black sky.
Floating pillars.
A collapsing formation.
A voice screaming:
"Close the passage!"
Another voice:
"We can't!"
Then—
A massive shadow appearing beyond the boundary.
Han Feng couldn't see its face.
But he felt the terror inside the memory.
The young man staggered.
"No..."
His voice was barely audible.
"No, not again."
Han Feng's expression changed.
This wasn't an illusion he had invented.
He was seeing something the young man had actually experienced.
Han Feng immediately severed the connection.
The young man fell to one knee.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked up.
His pale eyes had changed.
"You..."
Han Feng remained cautious.
"What happened there?"
The young man smiled.
It wasn't a friendly smile.
It was the smile of someone who had just confirmed a terrible suspicion.
"So you really can see it."
"See what?"
"The boundary."
Han Feng's expression hardened.
"What boundary?"
The young man stood slowly.
"You'll find out."
He looked toward the sealed crystal.
"Much sooner than you should."
Han Feng prepared another attack.
But the young man's body suddenly began to crack.
Golden light emerged through his skin.
Han Feng's eyes widened.
"Wait."
The man looked at him.
"More will come."
His body began turning into golden particles.
"The worlds are not colliding."
Han Feng froze.
The young man smiled.
"Not yet."
Then his body disappeared.
Only a faint golden dust remained.
Silence returned to the canyon.
Han Feng stood motionless.
The wind slowly returned.
Dust drifted across the broken rocks.
The young man was gone.
There was no corpse.
No spiritual core.
No Gu.
Nothing.
Only the crystal fragment remained.
Han Feng walked toward it.
He didn't touch it.
Instead, he stared.
"The worlds are not colliding."
He repeated the words.
"Not yet."
His eyes narrowed.
That changed the meaning of everything.
If the man was telling the truth, then the strange fluctuations in the sky weren't the collision itself.
They were something else.
Preparation.
Instability.
A weakening boundary.
Perhaps the ancient network was connected to that boundary.
Perhaps the six points weren't simply seals.
Perhaps they were stabilizers.
Or doors.
Han Feng didn't know.
And for once, he wasn't frustrated by that uncertainty.
Because uncertainty was safer than false knowledge.
He placed the crystal fragment inside a second sealed container.
Then he looked toward the Central Region.
The black clouds above the distant gorge flashed with lightning.
But this time, Han Feng noticed something.
The lightning wasn't striking randomly.
Every flash followed a pattern.
Six flashes.
A pause.
Then one.
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
Six.
Then one.
His expression became cold.
"The seventh point."
Night fell.
Han Feng left the canyon without looking back.
He did not take the Starry Wind Lotus.
The Gu was nowhere to be found.
Perhaps the map had been incomplete.
Perhaps someone had already taken it.
Or perhaps...
the Gu itself had moved.
That mystery could wait.
The crystal fragment couldn't.
Neither could the young man's warning.
As Han Feng approached the entrance to the Central Region, the Tear of the Black Sun trembled inside its container.
The Celestial Diagram responded.
Six symbols rotated.
The seventh remained dark.
For a brief instant, however—
A faint line appeared beneath them.
A road.
Descending into darkness.
Then it vanished.
Han Feng stopped.
He looked at the Central Region.
"This isn't a collision."
His hand tightened around the storage pouch.
"Something is opening the way."
Far behind him, in the Jade Tear Canyon, the place where the young man had disappeared began to glow.
A thin silver crack appeared in the air.
It lasted only three breaths.
But through it...
Han Feng saw something.
Not another world.
Not clearly.
Only a distant landscape beneath a black sky.
Then the crack closed.
The canyon returned to normal.
Han Feng never saw it.
He was already walking toward the Central Region.
But somewhere beyond the boundary between realities, something had noticed him.
And this time...
it had noticed him first.