Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 404: The rift... disappeared?

Chapter 404: Chapter 404: The rift... disappeared?

Xuan Che naturally noticed the subtle changes in Mo Ran’s expression. He understood the mood of the Border City Lord at this moment.

"Ahem, the situation is roughly like this," he coughed lightly twice to draw the other’s attention, "As far as I know, the recent cases of cultivators experiencing Qi deviation and disappearances are all concentrated in Mo City. Reports are rare in other areas of Shuji, so if all this is truly the handiwork of ’Yun Qingzi’, then there must be something in this city that interests him... In any case, he must have a reason for targeting this place."

"But what in this Mo City could warrant the attention of such an ancient and powerful figure?" Mo Ran furrowed his brow, his tone heavy. After a moment of contemplation, he shook his head, "Although Mo City is the largest city in Shuji, it’s only because it once had the largest spiritual ore mine on the planet, but now those veins have long since dried up. There’s no special blessed land or Spiritual Treasure here... Could it be he’s interested in the abandoned mine veins?"

Xuan Che also frowned, after a moment’s thought he shook his head: "This we’re temporarily unable to ascertain, but ’Yun Qingzi’ has grand ambitions and likely has been lurking and planning at the border for hundreds of years, so any actions he takes in the short term might just be a part of some larger, long-term plan, including the recent occurrences in Mo City."

Mo Ran listened, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face, and Xuan Che paused slightly before continued, "Rest assured, such a significant matter won’t leave Mo City to face it alone. Taixu Spirit Hub is also making preparations, and once there’s progress in this investigation or Yun Qingzi shows himself, support from Capital Star will arrive instantly."

"Moreover, I will later contact the Star Guardian Elder of Shuji—it’s strange that such a significant hidden threat lurks on the planet under his watch, and yet he remains unaware."

Listening, Mo Ran seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, nodding slightly.

Xuan Che seemed to recall something at this point and casually asked, "By the way, speaking of the Star Guardian Elder, the one guarding Shuji if I’m not mistaken, should be... Elder Dao Heng? I don’t know much about him, only that he was originally a master of the ’Heavenly Inference Sect’, later appointed here as Star Guardian by the Immortal Alliance, jointly recommended by Qianfeng Ling Mountain and Netherworld Valley? How has he been doing here?"

"As you said, Elder Dao Heng was appointed here by the Immortal Alliance a hundred years ago to guard this star on behalf of Qianfeng Ling Mountain and Netherworld Valley," Mo Ran nodded and said, "Throughout the century, Elder Dao Heng has been diligent, protecting the star, earning respect from all sides.

"Additionally, Elder Dao Heng acts low-key. Besides duties as the ’Star Guardian’, he doesn’t interfere much in mundane affairs, nor does he often make public appearances, especially since the last twenty to thirty years in Shuji has been peaceful, with surrounding small cities and orbital satellite cities being stable. His appearances were even fewer—of course, fewer appearances are only in public, he still attends regular meetings and planetary defense briefings in each city."

"No anomalies?"

"No anomalies."

"Hmm..." Xuan Che touched his chin, nodding slightly, a pensive look on his face. Just then, a slight buzzing noise suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

He casually reached into his sleeve and pulled out the glowing Lingxi Mirror—the mirror displayed a new message, the sender was Yu Sheng.

Xuan Che immediately straightened his expression, raised his hand, and tapped open the message.

The content of the message made him serious in an instant.

Beside him, Mo Ran noticed and immediately grew tense, "The Immortal Envoy seems so serious... Could it be another incident?"

Xuan Che finished reading the message, thought for a moment, then looked at the city lord opposite him, "Sit tight first."

Mo Ran: "..."

The sky might be falling.

But Xuan Che didn’t coddle her; seeing the city lord sitting safely, he cleared his throat:

"My Master Uncle went with others to investigate the outskirts of the city and encountered an attack by Yun Qingzi’s black-clothed cultivators at the edge of Mo City. The opponents were numerous, with a large number of demon beasts trained, and a mysterious outsider expert held sway, who is a cultist of the Venerate Saints Monastery. Additionally, a massive spatial anomaly was found at the scene, with its coverage range temporarily immeasurable, and there were two Immortal Foxes from Taixu Spirit Hub attacked on-site, one critically injured but fortunately rescued..."

He paused, noticing the city lord across from him was beginning to look vacant, so he retrieved a Medicine Gourd from his sleeve, flicked a pill into the other’s mouth, and then continued, "Fortunately, the rescue was timely..."

In truth, the rescue was indeed quite timely. Upon swallowing the pill, Mo Ran immediately snapped out from the brink of shattering Dao Heart.

The sky fell.

Xuan Che could only sigh lightly at this, then again lowered his head to review the just received message, adjusting his sitting posture in the chair, "Now, let’s talk about the Venerate Saints Monastery... the cultist appearing in the city outskirts is at least a ’Sage’, possibly even at the ’Great Sage’ level."

Mo Ran: "..."

It’s still collapsing, sustainably so.

...

A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, the flash illuminating the rainy night, with the rumble echoing continuously between heaven and earth.

Yu Sheng looked up at the sky, dense with dark clouds and blurred with rain, feeling nine-tenths uneasy about the whole situation.

At this moment, he was standing on a new Fox Tail, floating at the spot where he had previously clashed with the Hidden Monastery Cultist, with Master Yuan Hao next to him—Yuan Hao was standing on a chainsaw sword, which buzzed gratingly in mid-air.

"I opened the ’door’ here before," Yu Sheng said while feeling the air in front of him with his hand and frowning as he looked back, "but now that ’feel’ is gone."

Master Yuan Hao was holding a bright white brick in his hand, looking like a demon-revealing mirror, checking back and forth in the air. Hearing this, he turned his head, "The space here is very calm, and no hidden realm entrance or spatial layers have been found. Zheng Dao You also observed the ground just now and found no anomalies."

"But it doesn’t make sense. Previously, such a large passage was opened up here," Yu Sheng said in disbelief, "You saw it, didn’t you? The sky seemed to collapse, turning into a slanted mirror, full of cracks—the scene on the other side of the fissures looked like another world, quite spectacular."

"Yes, although I was busy treating Shang An at the time, I did indeed see the strange scene in the sky," Master Yuan Hao nodded, "Judging from what was seen, there should indeed be another space hidden here... And such a large-scale ’secret realm,’ once breached by you with such a hole, should not easily be hidden again."

Yu Sheng’s brow remained furrowed, and he said nothing more. Instead, he continued to maneuver the Fox Tail beneath his feet, inspecting various areas in the sky.

Master Yuan Hao followed him everywhere, riding on the chainsaw sword and continuing to shine the brick everywhere.

Erin, who was on the ground, looked up at the two figures flying back and forth in the sky and couldn’t help but exclaim in unison after a while, "This scene is damn bizarre."

Beside them, Zheng Zhi blinked, "Huh?"

"One’s riding a Fox Tail, and the other’s on a chainsaw sword, flying in circles... Ah, you don’t get it," Erin (pika) impatiently waved a hand halfway through speaking, "I need to refresh my eyes by reading novel or watching drama when I get back, these two ruined my last fantasy about the immortal heroes."

"It’s wrong to replace reality with fantasy," Hu Li seriously said to a little puppet beside him when he heard this, "You should cut down on that chaotic stuff, it’s bad for your mind."

Erin immediately put her hands on her hips and declared confidently, "I don’t even have a brain, what should I be afraid of?"

There was a moment of silence around them, with Hu Li unsure of how to respond. After a few seconds, Luna, who had been in standby mode, suddenly seemed to reboot and slowly added, "Hmm, right."

Erin pondered, thinking the C-lock might have had ill intentions this time, but before she could figure it out, two streaks of light flashed in front of her—Yu Sheng and Master Yuan Hao descended from the sky, the former on a Fox Tail and the latter on a chainsaw sword.

The little puppet instantly forgot what she had been thinking earlier and ran happily towards Yu Sheng, "You finally came down!"

Yu Sheng dodged Erin’s (pika) lightning tackle this time, casually grabbed the Fox Tail beside him to block the little electric ball that was sparking erratically, then wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed, "I’m down—but unfortunately, I couldn’t find where the previous fissure was."

Erin was initially upset about being intercepted in mid-air, but hearing his words, she was dumbfounded before any indignation could be voiced: "Huh? There’s a door you can’t open?!"

"It’s not the first time—there are always odd occurrences in this world, what can I do," Yu Sheng shrugged, "And you saw the situation on the other side of those fissures, it clearly wasn’t just a hidden space. Its scale was much larger than the space opened by the Venerate Saints Monastery’s ’Order Pillar’... I suspect there’s some new concealment or transfer mechanism that I haven’t figured out."

Erin listened, slightly bewildered, though she felt quite at home with this kind of situation of ’having heard but not understanding.’ She scratched her chin, adopting a thoughtful pose, pretended to ponder for a few seconds, then looked up, "Ah, then what?"

"Then? Then of course we head back; there’s no point in staying here in the rain," Yu Sheng waved it off and simultaneously turned his head, glancing at the overcast sky and the towering Ancient Refining Tower in the distance. After a moment of silence, he exhaled, "With all these newfound clues, the whole matter has become even more enigmatic. I’m going back to think it over, and besides..."

As he spoke, he drew back his gaze and took another look ahead.

Erin (Reinforced Steel) just ran out of a derelict factory and stood in front of him.

The guy who had fallen into a mud puddle earlier now got rained on, and the mud on them wasn’t washed off much, making them look even more disheveled, yet they seemed to have forgotten all about it, standing there looking all high-spirited.

It seemed like she was always so high-spirited.

"... By the way, clean yourself up, you’re almost beyond help."