The portal hummed like a silent heartbeat, pulsing with a light that did not belong to any era Zhou Fang had ever known.
Just as he and Emma were about to step in, a faint shimmer rippled across the air.
A barrier, translucent and silent, descended around him.
Zhou Fang paused.
His gaze sharpened like a blade hidden within snow.
"Emma," he said calmly, "why did you create a protection shield for me? Did something happen?"
Emma stood beside him, expression calm yet strained — the kind of tension a being tries to hide when it knows the truth is heavier than the listener can bear.
She answered softly:
"I already told you… we're going to the past of the Immortal Realm.
And I also told you that even those who transcend all dimensional time and space cannot time-travel inside a higher universe."
Her voice echoed inside the airless stillness.
"We are about to time-travel inside the Immortal Realm, which is countless structures above the universe.
As someone who still exists within dimensional time and space, you are not permitted—nor capable—of time-traveling inside a higher universe."
Her tone deepened, becoming colder, more solemn:
"You can travel through normal time and space without harm.
But you cannot travel through the time of a universe.
Let alone the Immortal Realm."
A moment of silence washed over them.
"If you attempted to time-travel in the Immortal Realm unprotected…"
Emma hesitated, then continued,
"…your body and soul would instantly split into infinite time-streams. You would collapse into non-existence — not death, but erasure. As if you never existed at all. Not even cause and effect would remember you."
Her gaze flicked to the shield around him.
"This protection barrier… it allows you to exist even in a place of nothingness. Without it? Your entire existence would unravel.
And Zhou Fang… even those who have transcended all dimensional time and space would face the same end."
Windless silence enveloped them.
Zhou Fang lowered his eyes thoughtfully. His thoughts moved like deep ocean currents — invisible, but powerful.
If beings who already surpassed all time and space die instantly by merely entering the Immortal Realm's past…
Then what does it mean that Emma can?
And more importantly—
What kind of existence stands behind the one who created Emma?
He did not ask.
He did not need to.
Truth was a blade; if drawn too early, it cut the wielder first.
Emma turned, her cloak swaying without wind.
"Zhou Fang, why are you standing there? Don't you want to go?"
Zhou Fang stepped forward.
"Let's go to the past."
And together, they entered the portal.
---
Inside the Portal
Time evaporated.
Space folded.
Silence expanded until it became a pressure on their very thoughts.
Zhou Fang felt as if he were walking between the breaths of the world — between moments, between destinies, between the edges of reality itself.
He finally spoke:
"Emma, in the Immortal Realm, mortals also exist.
But from your explanation… how can mortals survive there?"
Emma answered:
"Zhou Fang, traveling through time and living in a realm are two entirely different things."
"When you live somewhere, you follow its rules.
But when you travel through time, you oppose the rules. You challenge the fundamental structure of that place."
She continued:
"Some realms accept those below them.
But the first layer of the Immortal Realm — the Star Universe — is not such a realm."
Zhou Fang said, "Explain time travel properly then."
Emma nodded, gathering her thoughts.
"In normal time and space, if someone reaches the speed of light, they can travel through time."
At light-speed, she explained, a person stops moving through time and only moves through space. Time freezes for them, but continues outside. When they return, they appear in the future.
"That is forward time travel."
Then:
"If someone surpasses the speed of light, they move on the negative time axis — meaning they travel into the past."
"But all of this is limited to normal time and space."
Her gaze deepened.
"The universe is not 3D, 4D, or 10D.
It is layered upon dimensions measured by infinities: ℵ₀D, ℵ₁D, ℵ₂D, ℵ₃D… endlessly."
"These dimensions represent the highest level of time and space."
"Only beings who transcend all dimensional time and space can time-travel inside a universe."
"But above the universe?"
Emma's voice trembled slightly.
"There, time is not time. Space is not space. Neither is real, yet both exist. A paradox that reality bows to."
"The higher you go, the more abstract time becomes.
More fundamental.
More untouchable."
"And only those who can walk the Vast Expanse — where all time and space lose meaning — can exist there."
"But even they," she said, "cannot change the past."
Zhou Fang's eyes sharpened.
He laughed quietly — a sound colder than silence.
"So the higher the realm, the more fragile its laws are.
The more they pretend to be perfect."
Emma looked startled.
"…Pretend?"
Zhou Fang answered:
"Nothing perfect exists.
The more one claims perfection, the more cracks they hide beneath."
A moment passed.
Then the portal ended.
---
Arrival — The Immortal Realm's Past
Light poured around them.
And then the world appeared.
A world that felt too large for its own existence.
The moment Zhou Fang entered, he felt as if the realm itself turned to look at him. Not in acceptance — but in curiosity, in measurement, in judgment.
He inhaled.
The air felt like liquid spirit energy.
The mountains floated, supported by swirling rivers of starlight.
Lakes shimmered with runes.
The sky bent like a dome of living constellations.
But Zhou Fang's expression remained still, emotionless.
"So this is the Immortal Realm," he said softly.
"The moment I entered this realm, the air shifted —
not to welcome me,
but to measure me."
His voice was calm, unhurried.
"Mountains float, rivers coil in the heavens…
Others see miracles.
But I see structure."
"Power wearing a prettier mask."
He walked forward, the spiritual energy parting instinctively around him.
"The world here hums with power.
But power has never impressed me.
Only its origins do."
He lifted a hand, letting the starry wind brush across his fingers.
"This Immortal Realm…
It is not sacred.
It is merely complex."
His gaze scanned the floating peaks.
"The weak kneel before what they do not understand.
The wise peel wonder apart until only truth remains."
He exhaled slowly.
"I walk as a mortal.
Yet mortality sharpens the eyes more than immortality ever will."
"Every trembling law, every shifting starfield…
whispers a single truth."
"Nothing is boundless.
Nothing is flawless."
"Heaven towers above, but even heaven stands on pillars that can crack."
Zhou Fang's eyes darkened, deep as unfathomable wells.
"So I look.
I breathe.
I feel."
"And I understand."
"The realm is vast.
But knowing its limits—
that is the first step to surpassing it."
Emma stood silently beside him.
She had seen countless realms, countless worlds.
But Zhou Fang…
this mortal youth with a cold heart and sharp mind…
He saw through the Immortal Realm with the same calmness one uses to inspect a stone.
No reverence.
No awe.
No hesitation.
Only understanding.
Only analysis.
Only clarity.
Emma finally whispered:
"Zhou Fang… you are terrifying sometimes."
Zhou Fang smiled faintly — a thin, cold curve of lips.
"Only to those who fear knowledge."
Far above them, the stars trembled.
Something in the realm noticed their arrival.
Something old.
Something hidden in the folds of history.
And it stirred.
Watching.
Waiting.
Observing the mortal who dared walk its past.
Zhou Fang lifted his head slightly.
His eyes reflected the starlit sky.
And he whispered:
"Let the truth reveal itself.
I am here."