novelraw Chapter 26 : The Road Connecting the Human and Divine Worlds
Chapter 26 : The Road Connecting the Human and Divine Worlds
Chapter 26: The Road Connecting the Human and Divine Worlds
The heavens spun and the earth whirled.
Lu Gang felt as if he was being swept along within a “tide,” falling amidst layers of heavy mist, not knowing where he was heading.
This feeling had not just begun now. In fact, ever since the appearance of the “Double Pupils Virus,” he had already felt it. He always sensed that he was being carried away by a force so great that neither mortals nor humankind could resist, rushing toward some distant place.
Perhaps, at this very moment, it was not just him. All of humanity might have been feeling the same—the heavens spinning, the earth turning, the world itself becoming so strange and distorted that it was unrecognizable.
“Zhou Shentong, just what are you trying to do?”
“Li Jun, which side are you truly standing on?”
As he spun and plummeted, Lu Gang kept pondering these two questions. When a man possessed the power of gods, demons, immortals, and Buddhas, could his stance really remain firmly and unwaveringly on the side of humanity?
When he regained his senses, he found himself lying on the ground. Around him, one figure after another stood up, glancing at their surroundings.
“Where is this?”
Some saw only a void, others nothing but endless whiteness. Yet, in the distance, Lu Gang saw a plant-overgrown town resembling ruins, shrouded in layers of mist. He recognized it at first sight.
“This is Tao Mountain Island.”
“Don’t move. No one move recklessly. Turn on the cameras of your mobile phones.”
After switching on their cameras, the group faintly perceived their surroundings through the mist.
The others were startled but also let out a breath of relief.
“So we’re no longer at Mount Zhangwei?”
“That final scene—I thought we were dead for sure. Was that really Candle Dragon’s eye in the sky?”
“So, in just that instant, we’ve been hurled from the Western Frontier all the way to Nan’gang?”
“But Tao Mountain Island is no longer in Nan’gang.”
“Still, for those two to fight to the point of dragging us all the way here—that’s just ridiculous!”
Zhao Nange emerged from the mist, carrying several items in her arms. The first thing she cared about was one question.
“Where is Li Jun?”
The others lifted their phones, scanning the mist, but Lu Gang said,
“I know where he is.”
Then he looked at the things Zhao Nange was holding, a look of delight flashing across his face.
“You really brought them out.”
Earlier, when Lu Gang had seen the equipment set up before the Ancient Stone Gate, seen those cables stretching from the void, he had set his eyes on them, believing they contained the vital information they needed.
And indeed, amid the chaos, Zhao Nange and a few others had managed to seize some of the Longevity Temple’s computers, cameras, and other devices, and bring them out. How could Lu Gang not be overjoyed?
They quickly sorted out their items, organizing the videos and recordings taken after entering Mount Zhangwei, while also arranging the devices seized from the Longevity Temple.
During this process, they discovered something different from what they had initially assumed.
At first, it seemed the Longevity Temple had not realized that the Yellow Springs Ghost Gate was located there. It was only Zhang You and several Extraordinary Ones created by the Longevity Temple who had sensed the place was suitable, and so they began building a base there.
Their original plan, in fact, was to construct a “bridge” between the human world, the Longevity Temple, and Mount Zhangwei. By producing vast numbers of Candle Souls in the human world, then using the Longevity Temple alongside Shentu and Yulei to control the opening and closing of the gate, Zhang You and the Extraordinary Ones could gradually explore Mount Zhangwei, step by step.
In this process, not only could they steadily raise Mount Zhangwei toward the human world, but they could also reap the greatest benefits.
After reviewing those videos and documents, everyone felt increasingly horrified.
“Zhou Shentong holds both the fuse that could destroy the world and the gate to the extraordinary realm. If he really succeeds in this, they will truly control the entire world.”
“He’s dreaming. If such a madman really came to dominate the world, then the world would be finished.”
“His goal is to drag everything of the mythic era into this world. He wants to truly become immortal, to establish himself as an Ancestor. Why would he care about humanity’s survival or death? After all, by then, he would be eternally undying.”
The group huddled together in discussion, their expressions growing grimmer with every thought. Finally, Lu Gang stood, slipped a computer into his backpack, and tightened it shut.
Then he told the others,
“I need to go. Wait for me here. Remember—do not enter the mist.”
The others wanted to ask questions, but Zhao Nange seemed to already know what Lu Gang intended.
“We’ll wait here for you.”
Lu Gang nodded, then stepped directly into the mist.
This time.
He had barely crossed a single crossroads before he felt as if he had passed from the outer layer into the middle, arriving at the deepest part of Tao Mountain Island.
The mist here was denser, like stepping into a Sea of Clouds, everything around him a vast whiteness.
But Lu Gang knew Li Jun was here: “Do you know what Zhou Shentong intends to do?”
Li Jun’s voice drifted from within the mist: “I saw it.”
Lu Gang asked, “What do you think we should do?”
Li Jun countered with his own question: “What do you plan to do?”
Lu Gang said, “I want to stop all of this.”
Li Jun pressed, “Do you mean to stop Zhou Shentong’s plan, or to stop the arrival of the extraordinary age?”
Lu Gang hurriedly asked, “If I said the latter, would you support us?”
Li Jun said, “Can it truly be stopped?”
This question was not only aimed at Lu Gang. In truth, Li Jun was also asking himself what he should do, and which path he ought to choose.
At that, Lu Gang fell into silence.
After a long while, he finally answered, “No matter what, I hope the situation remains under control.”
Li Jun offered him an option: “Zhou Shentong wishes to pull everything of the ancient age back up into this world. Then I will try to help you delay the process, perhaps even find a way to seal it back again.”
“However, in the process—can you truly prevent this world’s people from pursuing extraordinary power and eternal life?”
“If you cannot sever mortals’ desire for strength and immortality, then they will keep flocking to it, endlessly, just like moths to a flame. The more you try to stop them, the more it will not be the Longevity Temple or Zhou Shentong you face as enemies, but you, Lu Gang, against the entire world.”
At these words, Lu Gang could find no response.
In the end, it was Li Jun who said,
“We’ll just take it one step at a time!”
Lu Gang nodded. As he raised his head, he saw Li Jun’s figure.
He saw that within the phantom, the Divine Wood’s vines were binding Li Jun tighter and tighter, almost completely covering him, leaving only his face exposed.
At the same time, the Peach Tree grew ever more illusory, dragging Li Jun deeper into nothingness.
At that moment, Li Jun strained to lift his hand, extending something forward. It seemed to take so much effort that even speaking became difficult.
He uttered just two words: “Take this!”
Lu Gang caught the object that fell from the mist. It was a blueprint.
“What is this?”
When he looked up again, he realized something was wrong with Li Jun.
At first, he could still see Li Jun’s shadow. Then gradually, only a cluster of light. Finally, even the light disappeared.
Li Jun and the great tree faded into the void together, leaving behind only his voice.
Lu Gang hurried after him, asking, “What’s happening to you?”
Li Jun said, “This is the price.”
Lu Gang said, “If the price is too great, perhaps we can find another path.”
But Li Jun said, “Do you really still have another path to choose?”
Once again, Lu Gang fell silent.
Li Jun said, “If you modify all of Tao Mountain Island according to my blueprint, you can transform the entire island into a colossal ancient altar. But I still need you to bring the necessary things here yourselves.”
“I will try to open a Realm Gate for you here. But it will not be large, and its use will be limited by size and time.”
“You can replicate the Longevity Temple’s method to build a bridge among the three. As long as you succeed in accomplishing what the Longevity Temple sought to do, Zhou Shentong’s plan will already be half ruined.”
Lu Gang said, “Thank you. You’ve already done enough.”
Afterward, Li Jun told him it was time to go. Behind Lu Gang, a road appeared.
When he turned back, he saw the road spinning, like a rotating cross-shaped disc. Standing at the crossroads, he stepped onto the path he was meant to take.
Lu Gang returned and, together with Zhao Nange and the others, left Tao Mountain Island. They departed aboard a boat from the pier.
He did not know how long they rowed, but eventually the sea horizon appeared in the distance, and the lights of the city came into view.
“It’s Nan’gang City.”
Mount Zhangyin, Blackstone Peak.
Luo Zhen stared at the suddenly surging dark shadow, watching as the dim mountain range swelled and rose higher, layer after layer of shadows spreading outward.
This divine mountain from the myths and seas drew even closer to reality, as though the ink of a scroll painting had spilled beyond its paper. Just a single drop of that ink falling into the mortal world became a black pool and a towering mountain.
“What’s happening?”
At once, Luo Zhen realized.
“Not good. Something happened inside.”
Yet while he watched such a scene, across the border line, the crowd holding all sorts of equipment filming Mount Zhangyin’s Blackstone Peak erupted in wild cheers and shouts of joy.
Some even prostrated themselves, kissing the earth, while others tried to climb the barbed-wire border fence to rush toward the ever-mutating mountain, only to be stopped.
It was foreseeable, however, that as Blackstone Peak revealed more extraordinary signs, edging ever closer to myth, rumors of reincarnation and traveling to another world would spread even more wildly across the internet, and those strange figures queuing in the shadows would multiply.
With Blackstone Peak further mutating out of control, Lu Gang and the others still not returning, reports stacking one after another, and calls flooding in, Luo Zhen was drenched in sweat.
For now, everything looked like bad news.
Until he picked up a call from Nan’gang City.
“What, you found them?”
“Where?”
“In Nan’gang City?”
“I’ll be right there.”
Luo Zhen immediately dropped everything at hand, rushed to Nan’gang City, and saw Lu Gang’s field team lying exhausted, resting with their eyes closed.
As Luo Zhen approached, Lu Gang and Zhao Nange instantly opened their eyes. At first Luo Zhen hesitated to disturb them, but seeing them awake, he hurried forward, patting Lu Gang excitedly on the shoulder.
“Lu Gang, Nange, thank goodness you’re safe. Old Luo here was worried sick.”
“How did you come back?”
“How did you suddenly jump from the Western Frontier all the way here to Nan’gang?”
Lu Gang rather enjoyed seeing Luo Zhen so flustered, given that he himself was usually the one frightened by all the major incidents up front.
“Guess?”
Luo Zhen grew anxious: “You don’t know—things in the Western Frontier are a complete mess. With no news from you, I was going crazy. Don’t keep me guessing now. What on earth happened in there?”
Finding a place, Lu Gang immediately began reporting to Luo Zhen and the higher-ups in detail about what had occurred. The scene became like a full meeting.
So much had happened that Lu Gang spoke for most of the day, finishing only by nightfall.
From the abnormalities in the Candle Soul procession, to their battle against Zhang You and the other Extraordinary Ones, to the appearance of the Yellow Springs Ghost Gate, and finally to Zhou Shentong’s emergence.
When Lu Gang spoke of Zhou Shentong’s power—how merely uttering a name could nearly kill someone—everyone present frowned deeply, and even those participating remotely through video looked grim.
Later, when Lu Gang described the battle between Zhou Shentong and Li Jun, his account grew vague, for he could not perceive the entirety of their clash. He could only describe what he felt.
In Lu Gang’s words:
“To be precise, I had no idea what the two of them were fighting with. It just felt like beams of light flashing through the sky, shadows drifting everywhere.”
“But some of us did record parts of it. We can analyze them later.”
And so, on the topic of incomprehensible battles of gods and demons, the discussion ended there. Next, Lu Gang spoke of the Longevity Temple and Zhou Shentong’s plans.
When he finished, Luo Zhen flew into a rage.
“That lunatic Zhou Shentong—does he care nothing for the consequences? Was he not once just a man himself? Must he destroy his former homeland?”
Lu Gang said, “Perhaps he truly believes he has become an immortal or Buddha, and that the ancient world is his true homeland.”
Only then did Lu Gang finally bring out the blueprint Li Jun had given him. On it was drawn a labyrinth-like pattern, annotated with the various required materials.
But though he had seen it himself, he did not display it now. He simply folded it and placed it on the table.
Luo Zhen did not pick it up, only asked, “What is this?”
Lu Gang replied, “Li Jun gave it to me. He said that if we follow this design, we too can open a gate connecting the human world and another world, just as the Longevity Temple did. That way, their conspiracy collapses on its own.”
At once, Luo Zhen shot to his feet. The eyes of everyone present locked on that seemingly ordinary sheet of paper.
This was no mere gate. More precisely, it was the great road linking the human and divine worlds.
Whoever held this gate, in effect, held the extraordinary power, the secret of immortality, and the resources of another world of gods and demons.
Enough to drive countless people mad—even nations willing to risk everything.
After standing, Luo Zhen did not sit back down. From the looks on everyone’s faces, he quickly understood.
“No one is allowed to touch this. No one is allowed to look at it. Not even me.”
He turned to Lu Gang, telling him to put it away for now, and not hand it to anyone until they received direct orders from above.
“I’ll immediately dispatch someone to take it. For now, everyone stays here. No one leaves.”
Soon, a squad entered the meeting room, received the paper from Lu Gang, sealed it inside a briefcase, and carried it away.
Watching the briefcase, Lu Gang seemed to recall something.
“This won’t be like last time, will it?”
Luo Zhen said, “I won’t allow what happened before to happen again.”
Tao Mountain Island.
At that moment, Li Jun was also studying the blueprint, the plan for remodeling the entire island.
“To remodel the entire region, turning it into a colossal altar to feed the Peach Demon, so that the borrowing and transmission of power could be faster and more continuous, even opening a stable passage long-term.”
“Was this Zhou Shentong’s own idea, or some inheritance he obtained?”
In fact, Li Jun had seen this method during his clash, from above the Longevity Temple.
But since Zhou Shentong could use this method to control the entire Longevity Temple, Li Jun naturally thought of using the same method to control Tao Mountain Island completely.
Not to mention—the Longevity Temple could even connect to the internet.
And now, Li Jun’s way of accessing the web was by peeking through Lu Gang and Zhao Nange’s phones.
While he studied the blueprint, pondering how to remodel Tao Mountain Island, he suddenly noticed Zhao Nange looking at something on her phone.
His name appeared on the screen. At once, Li Jun shifted his gaze toward it.
“What’s that?”
Somehow, a list and ranking of Extraordinary Ones had appeared online. No one knew who had leaked it.
But this ranking further inflamed humanity’s hunger for extraordinary power, seeming to prove and declare that the extraordinary age had moved from version 1.0 to 2.0.
The advent of the mythic age rolled forward like the wheels of history—inevitable, unstoppable.
Each figure on the ranking instantly surpassed global celebrities and world leaders, becoming names nearly everyone knew.
Yet on the Extraordinary Ranking, there was also a so-called Register of Immortals and Gods.
Double Pupils Li Jun and Zhou Shentong of the Longevity Temple were listed upon it together. In an instant, Li Jun’s name was elevated to the divine altar.
Though few had ever met him, rumors claimed foreign lands already had religious cults worshiping him. This left Li Jun utterly bewildered.
But for some reason, upon seeing this overly detailed list, the first name Li Jun thought of was Zhou Shentong.
“This must be Zhou Shentong again!”
Zhou Shentong yearned with all his heart to transform the world, and was this scene before them not exactly as he had wanted?
Yet, as Li Jun watched Zhou Shentong’s actions unfold one after another, the pressure upon him grew heavier still.