novelraw Chapter 1082: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (90): The Other Side’s Progress
Chapter 1082: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (90): The Other Side’s Progress
"How is it?"
Hanyang Zhenren returned to Ming Tushan’s side with a helpless expression—after searching the place, aside from numerous strange containers, bizarre specimens within them, and more odd devices, they hadn’t found anything of real value.
Ming Tushan shook his head as well and looked at the unconscious Flameflow lying on the ground. “This boy is sealed by a powerful cold force—it seems even his consciousness is frozen. If we can’t break the seal, it’ll be very hard to wake him.”
“I see…” Hanyang Zhenren frowned and then looked toward Daoist Araki, who was keeping watch at the door. “What’s the situation outside?”
Daoist Araki quickly responded, “Those metal boxes haven’t returned in a while. They may have already left! Vice President, what should we do now?”
Staying hidden here wasn’t a long-term solution. Gritting his teeth, Hanyang Zhenren said, “Let’s get out of here first.”
Ming Tushan agreed. They carried the unconscious Flameflow, quietly opened the strange building’s door, restrained their auras, and cautiously made their way out.
But they hadn’t gone far when explosions echoed through the corridor—so loud and violent that Ming Tushan’s group felt a surge of fear.
“Seems like… something is forcefully breaking in?”
It felt like someone was charging through layer after layer of barriers in this place with brute strength!“No wonder those metal boxes are gone. Looks like they were drawn toward the disturbance… but who in the world could it be?” A middle-aged Daoist in the survivor team voiced his worry.
“Let me check.” Hanyang Zhenren took a deep breath, formed a hand seal, and chanted. Finally, he pointed forward. “Mystic Mirror Technique!”
A palm-sized glowing mirror appeared before the Daoist-Demon survivor team—within it, they saw a girl emitting terrifying dark red demonic energy, smashing through layers of corridors like a human bulldozer, heading straight in like the metal boxes had.
“This… who in the world is this girl?!” Daoist Araki was stunned—the demonic energy was so immense that even across the distance, it made his mind tremble.
Hanyang Zhenren stared intensely at the image, brows tightly furrowed. “Elder Ming, could this be…”
A flash of joy appeared on Ming Tushan’s face. “Yes! That’s Princess Zijun of the Xuanyuan royal family! I never thought she’d be here—what a surprise! The last time I saw her was a hundred years ago, at her 700th birthday… as an invited guest of the Xuanyuan Palace’s Kun Division.”
Hanyang Zhenren stroked his beard and smiled. “Heaven never truly cuts off a man’s path. So Xuanyuan Palace came here too! If Princess Zijun’s here, the rest of the palace may not be far… perhaps they discovered something after investigating the Jade Dragon Pillar and came to rescue us!”
“Haha! Xuanyuan Palace has a long history and has always supported the nation. If the True Dragon is the Divine Land’s protector, then Xuanyuan Palace is its defender!” Daoist Araki was overjoyed. “We’re saved!”
Speak of the devil!
Just then, the metal wall near them suddenly exploded as a blast of dark red demonic energy surged into the corridor like a hurricane.
The girl from the mirror burst into the passage—
It was none other than Princess Zijun!
Ming Tushan quickly stepped forward, excited. “I am Ming Tushan, elder of the Black Tortoise Clan. Your Highness, may I—”
“No time! Go play with yourself!”
Before Ming Tushan could finish, the girl didn’t even glance at them. She smashed straight into the next metal wall, broke through, and charged deeper in, leaving the survivor team in the dust…
No time… no time… no time…
The echo of her words still rang in Ming Tushan’s ears. He stood frozen on the spot.
At that moment, Hanyang Zhenren suddenly cried out, “Watch out!”
From the corridor breached by Su Zijun, dozens of Combat-Type Gaia and over a hundred metal boxes surged in like a flood!
Some of them continued chasing Su Zijun, but a large portion turned toward Ming Tushan’s group!
Damn! What happened to the Divine Land's defender?
Those metal boxes had already caused them serious trouble—now add seven Combat-Type Gaia?
Having survived the annihilation of the Daoist and Demon Association team, they had a deep-rooted fear of Gaia.
“Stay back!!”
A terrified scream rang out—a demon clan member shouted in panic and bolted!
His retreat triggered the rest—including Daoist Araki—to panic and flee as well!
Ming Tushan shivered and snapped out of it. Even the princess of Xuanyuan Palace was fleeing from Gaia—what could they possibly do?
There was no way they could "go play with themselves"—fleeing was the only option!
The survivor team scrambled through the maze-like corridors, desperately trying to escape.
No one knew how long they ran. Eventually, they reached a dead-end—all of them now wore expressions of hopeless despair.
Hanyang Zhenren sighed deeply. “Looks like we’ll have to go down fighting. Everyone—if we must perish, let it be a glorious death!”
He pulled out the Seven Star Ancient Sword and stood resolutely in front of the group. “President Baijie… Hanyang has failed you.”
With that, Hanyang Zhenren took a deep breath, summoned all his spiritual power, and raised his sword to meet the enemy.
“Get down!”
In a flash, a voice rang out.
Startled, Hanyang Zhenren instinctively ducked and raised his sword in defense.
A swift figure darted past—before anyone could react, all the metal boxes and the seven Gaia units were sliced clean in half, falling and exploding one after another!
Hanyang Zhenren stared in disbelief.
From the flames emerged a young man with a scarf, holding a sword.
“That was close—almost missed you guys,” the youth said, eyeing Hanyang Zhenren like an old man trying to sneak attack someone. “You all keep wandering around—took me forever to find you. Why couldn’t you just stay put like before?”
“Ha…” Hanyang Zhenren paused, instinctively turning to look back at Ming Tushan and the others—behind him, everyone wore the same look of confusion and doubt.
“May I ask who you are?”
“Hold on! One, two, three…” The young man pointed at each of them, counting as if taking attendance. Then he turned and shouted loudly, “Seven in total—just like you said, Old Man Baijie! Everyone’s accounted for on this side!”
From the glow of firelight, Daoist Baijie and Wang Hu strode out quickly, appearing right in front of Ming Tushan and the others.
“President!” Hanyang Zhenren’s emotions surged—joy mixed with relief. But his expression quickly changed when he saw, “Huang Baifu!”
The White Tiger young master had lost an arm—it was a brutal sight.
“It’s so good to see you all safe.” Daoist Baijie’s expression softened. He spoke quickly, “Everyone, no time to explain. I’ve found a way out.”
“Really?!” Hanyang Zhenren lit up.
Daoist Baijie nodded and turned to the young man in the scarf—Da Zhe. Da Zhe raised his sword and slashed into the air, creating a spatial rift.
“President, who is this?” Hanyang Zhenren asked in surprise.
Before he could get an answer, Wang Hu suddenly lunged—before Hanyang Zhenren could react, Wang Hu delivered a swift kick that sent him flying into the rift!
Without pause, Wang Hu moved with blinding speed, kicking Ming Tushan, Araki, and the rest of the survivors one after another into the rift.
“So much talking! Drag things out again like with the Management Bureau?” Wang Hu glanced at Daoist Baijie. “You can explain everything once we’re all out!”
“We’ll have to do it that way.” Daoist Baijie was both startled and impressed by Huang Baifu’s efficiency. As crude as it was, it worked.
Da Zhe gave Huang Baifu a thumbs up, clearly approving. “Brother Wang Hu, 666!”
Please stop calling me Wang Hu…
Huang Baifu sighed internally. He frowned, his complexion poor, and subconsciously clutched and rubbed his stomach.
“Hey, Brother Wang Hu… maybe you should go out next? There aren’t many left now,” Da Zhe suddenly suggested.
Seriously, can we not call me Wang Hu…
Huang Baifu furrowed his brow, took a deep breath, suppressing whatever weird stirring was happening in his stomach. He looked a bit better and firmly shook his head. “I’m fine. What matters now is the mission. We’ve come this far—quitting halfway isn’t my style. Besides…”
He glanced at Daoist Baijie beside him. That old man isn’t leaving either.
He had witnessed the deal between Baijie and Boss Luo—he knew what Daoist Baijie had given up. That earned him real respect.
“Thank you, Young Master Huang,” Daoist Baijie sighed.
Seeing Huang Baifu’s determination, Da Zhe muttered, “Well, I did warn you. If anything happens next, don’t say I didn’t.”
Huang Baifu thought Da Zhe was worried about his safety and felt a bit grateful. “Don’t worry, Mr. Da Zhe. I can take care of myself.”
I'm not worried about danger… I'm worried you can’t handle that Miss’ methods…
Da Zhe shook his head, then raised the Zhanlu Sword and slashed through the ceiling. “Let’s go. There are still several levels up… and someone—ugh, why do these people all love to wander off!”
With that, Da Zhe dashed upward, and Daoist Baijie and Huang Baifu quickly followed.
...
...
Meanwhile…
“Huang Baifu, how dare you—!”
Hanyang Zhenren’s furious shout was abruptly cut off—because the oppressive metal corridor was gone. In front of him were green mountains, clear waters, and… Mount Tai!
Except… a thick white mist surrounded Mount Tai—unnaturally so.
They were out.
They actually got out!!
Hanyang Zhenren felt like he was dreaming.
Then, a joyful voice rang out, “Are you… Hanyang Zhenren? That’s great—Hanyang Zhenren!”
Hanyang Zhenren turned in surprise to see a man in a black suit walking toward him quickly. Behind the man were several tents, instruments, and personnel busily working beneath the canopy.
“You are?” Hanyang Zhenren frowned.
“My name is Chen He, mid-level agent of the Management Bureau—greetings, Hanyang Zhenren!”
Chen He was clearly excited. “Daoist, could you please step aside? We want to examine the rift behind you—it disappears every time!”
Hanyang Zhenren turned and saw a team from the Management Bureau rushing over with equipment, surrounding the rift from which he had just emerged.
“Hurry! Based on previous cases, the rift will close soon. We must record its magnetic field data!”
Just then, another figure rolled out from the rift, landing ungracefully and shouting the same thing as Hanyang Zhenren moments ago:
“Huang Baifu! How dare you—huh?”
It was Ming Tushan—victim #2 of Wang Hu’s flying kick.
And so began a strange scene—every few seconds, another person would tumble out of the rift in an awkward pose, shouting nearly identical words…
Hanyang Zhenren and Ming Tushan went from shocked to completely numb.
The Management Bureau team, however, was scrambling like their lives depended on it.
By the time the last one—Zhenren Araki—rolled out of the rift and hadn’t even started yelling yet, the crack abruptly vanished.
“Damn it!! We didn’t get the data again!!”
A middle-aged man in a lab coat shouted in frustration, smashing his tablet to the ground before squatting in utter defeat.
“What on earth… just happened?” Ming Tushan frowned deeply.
“Let me explain, old turtle.”
Ming Tushan turned instinctively—and saw Cang Jinshui of the Azure Dragon Clan walking over with a grave expression.
“See the white mist around Mount Tai? It’s now become… a Forbidden Zone.”
(End of Chapter)