Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Rift in Space

At this moment, Lei Xiang felt his body slip beyond his control. It was as though that mysterious suction had been born for him alone, clinging like a maggot to bone, relentless and unyielding. After he tried five different ways to break free and still failed to escape its grasp, Lei Xiang laughed. In this near-hopeless situation, he could still find it in himself to laugh—what could that prove except the strength of his heart?

“Let things take their course,” he thought. He’d already died once; what harm could another death do? Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation atop his head, as if he were a roast pig placed on a spit. He hurriedly looked up.

An eye!

High above, in the distant sky, a gigantic eye gazed down. It seemed barely a foot long, yet at the same time, it stretched for thousands of miles. Blue shapes occasionally flickered within its gaze, and Lei Xiang found himself hurtling toward it, like a moth drawn to a flame. That was his final thought, and the last thing he saw.

Had anyone witnessed this, they would have been struck with terror. They would have seen a strange tableau: a man rising ever higher in midair, rushing toward a great eye that grew and shrank, until he plunged inside. The heavy eyelid snapped shut, and the bizarre eye vanished without a trace.

Darkness enveloped Lei Xiang.

He reached out to Zhu Chi in his consciousness, and after hearing Lei Xiang’s recounting, Zhu Chi fell silent. When he spoke again, it was with a long, weary sigh.

“Ah…Lei Xiang, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve been sucked into a spatial rift. Every ten thousand years, the meteor showers are accompanied by these unpredictable tears in space. If one is caught, escape is nearly impossible; even if by some miracle you break free, you might find yourself somewhere unknown. These rifts are wildly unstable, drifting through the void.”

Peering through the blue light in his eyes, Lei Xiang tried to observe his surroundings. Zhu Chi’s words startled him, but soon he calmed himself, and after a moment, spoke. “Master Zhu, please tell me about spatial rifts. Why can’t I see anything? It’s pitch black everywhere.”

Zhu Chi’s voice came, tinged with irritation. “What use is it to talk about this? We’re trapped; nothing matters now. My Night’s End Death Talisman doesn’t need your solution anymore. Let’s just wait here for death together.”

Lei Xiang flashed a grin, revealing a sharp canine. “Master, surely you don’t know everything, do you?”

Just then, a plume of black smoke rose above Lei Xiang’s head, condensing into the image of a lecherous old man. The old man, with mouse-like eyes, glared fiercely at Lei Xiang. “At a time like this, you still have the nerve to joke? I suppose I have to praise your careless heart.”

Lei Xiang calmly sat down on the ground. “Master Zhu, what’s the use of being anxious? Let’s clear our minds and think—perhaps there’s a way out. Do you believe I can lead you out?”

Zhu Chi’s mouse eyes widened. “What? You want me to believe what, exactly? Confidence must rest on strength. Blind faith is nothing but ignorance. From inside, a spatial rift is an isolated, opposed space—do you understand? It’s independent. Unless you’re at the late Nascent Soul stage, or even the Transformation stage, wielding the power of space, you couldn’t brute-force your way out. Do you have that?”

Lei Xiang blinked and grinned mischievously. “You’re finally willing to say something about spatial rifts! Well, at least I know brute force is an option. That gives us several possibilities. Maybe there’s an accident outside, maybe a few Nascent Soul elders battle for hundreds of rounds, and a powerful artifact shatters the space by chance?”

“Nonsense!” The rift was pitch-black, but Lei Xiang could tell Zhu Chi was furious. “Where would all these accidents come from? Where would all those elders have time to fight here? And where are we, anyway? This is a spatial rift—unstable, drifting at random. Who knows where we are now? We might have left the Infinite Continent, or ended up in some otherworldly space. Stop dreaming your autumn dreams.”

Lei Xiang remained unbothered, stretching out his limbs comfortably, even reclining on the ground. “Why bother with so many ‘maybes’? Let’s not worry about the unknown. The spiritual energy here is so abundant that even cultivating isn’t a bad idea. Let’s have a good sleep first—rest while we can. Perhaps when we wake, we’ll drift back to the Eastern Yue kingdom.”

Zhu Chi snorted coldly. “Carefree fool. I’ll go explore the distance, see if there’s any weak spot. At least here, with no light in the rift, I can move freely—better than being trapped in your sea of consciousness. You stay here and be a pig. I’m off.”

With that, Zhu Chi transformed into black wind and flew toward the unknown. Lei Xiang, meanwhile, was already snoring loudly on the ground—who could imagine someone sleeping at a moment like this?

There was nothing in the spatial rift—no light, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, sun, or stars. Time was impossible to measure, and so it was unknown how many days had passed since Lei Xiang and Zhu Chi had been sucked in. Yet Lei Xiang, who had been sleeping so soundly, suddenly awoke. He tossed a stack of formation flags into the boundless darkness, spun the formation disk in his hand, and sent out several incantations. White light flashed all around, activating the “Cherish Time Like Gold” grand formation, and without a word, he sat cross-legged in meditation, like an old monk in deep contemplation. No one knew what was on his mind.

Time in meditation passed quickly. After an unknown span, Lei Xiang opened his eyes. Fortunately, he had long since abstained from food and drink, so sustenance was no concern. He stood, stretched his limbs; his complexion was rosy, his spirit high—nothing like a man doomed to eternal confinement.

His prolonged meditation had crystallized a complete plan in his mind. If he could carry it out, breaking through the spatial rift would not be impossible.

The plan was simple, bold, and creative. It had two parts: if the first failed, the second would be activated. The first was to advance his cultivation quickly, thereby triggering a heavenly tribulation that might strike from outside and breach the rift. Currently, Lei Xiang was only in the early Foundation stage; normally, progression before Core Formation would not summon tribulation. But his situation was unique—when he achieved Foundation, he had already drawn heavenly thunder that leveled Hengyang Mountain’s Luoxia Peak.

His meridians and dantian were much larger than those of his peers, so he could trigger lightning tribulation at Foundation. That was the theoretical basis. If Foundation could summon thunder, then advancing to the mid-stage should bring even greater tribulation—this, too, was sound theory.

Cultivation here had another benefit: the spiritual energy was rich, and Lei Xiang had seized most of the Blood Fiend Alliance’s spirit stones. With the aid of the Cherish Time Like Gold formation, the odds of success increased dramatically. Lei Xiang estimated he had a seventy percent chance.

With a swipe of his storage pouch, another bag flew out. He tapped the mouth of a golden rope, and with a gentle looseness, sixteen spirit stones of various shapes jumped out, encircling him. These were all top-grade stones; if the Blood Fiend Alliance’s master could see, he would spit blood in rage—all their hard-earned treasures now fueling Lei Xiang’s breakthrough.

During the battle with the Blood Fiend Alliance, Lei Xiang had no time to copy more spirit stones with his Blue Lotus Plate. Besides, after Zhu Chi’s soul had recovered somewhat, he’d often drift between sleep and wakefulness in Lei Xiang’s sea of consciousness. Lei Xiang had been cautious not to use the Blue Lotus Plate too much, lest Zhu Chi notice anything. Luckily, all the Blood Fiend Alliance’s stones had been exchanged for this bag of top-grade stones, each worth a million low-grade stones—more than enough for Lei Xiang’s cultivation.

At this moment, Lei Xiang’s spiritual energy began to circulate, initiating his assault on the fifth layer of the Divine Spirit Treasure Mirror.

Cultivation knows no years.

Who could say how long passed? Above the spatial rift, thunder roared, and multicolored lightning crashed down. In some unknown darkness, a faint glimmer appeared, followed by a black sphere that instantly teleported toward the thunder.

The light faded, revealing the lecherous old man with mouse eyes—Zhu Chi, returning from years of exploration. “Lei Xiang, what are you doing?” The earth-shattering noise had startled him.

Hearing the familiar voice, Lei Xiang did not speak. After so many years, he had grown accustomed to the darkness. With the blue light in his eyes, he could see Zhu Chi’s astonishment, but he merely sent a thought. “Master, I’m breaking through the mid-Foundation barrier. Don’t disturb me, and don’t bother protecting me. The terrifying sound is the tribulation summoned by my advancement. Don’t be afraid—this is my first plan: use the heavenly tribulation to break the spatial rift.”

“What?” Zhu Chi’s mouse eyes bulged. “Tribulation? You’re getting heavenly tribulation at Foundation stage? You…you freak, you’re no human!”

Seeing Lei Xiang focus intently on his breakthrough, ignoring him, Zhu Chi muttered, “What a prodigy, to think of harnessing outside forces. Why didn’t I think of that? Even if I did, it’s useless—I couldn’t summon tribulation anyway.”

Explosions outside the rift grew louder, making the closed space tremble. Occasionally, stones of various sizes fell, and Zhu Chi raised a hand to release black smoke, forming a shield overhead. Amidst all this, a trace of joy entered his heart. “Perhaps this boy's method really has merit.”

Suddenly, the thunder above multiplied in intensity, shaking the space violently. Massive spatial meteors rained down like hail, making the ground quake. Surprise flickered across Zhu Chi’s face; deep down, he could hardly believe that a Foundation-stage tribulation could cause such commotion. But soon, delight crept into his expression—after all, hope of escape was now within reach for him and Lei Xiang.

(The Second Volume Begins)