Volume 1, Chapter 492 – An Accident

[Constructing a spacetime passage requires 1.49 units of nine-star energy. Construct?]

“Construct it.”

A spacetime passage opened before Shi Lan’s eyes. Threads of vitality fluctuations seeped through along the passage, at first like a murmuring brook, but after a moment they turned into a surging river in flood, crashing toward her.

The flow of energy had a fixed direction. When a higher world connected to a lower world, energy would inevitably pour downward of its own accord.

The appearance of this phenomenon was enough to show that the world on the other end of the passage was at least one level higher than the Qiongluo Realm.

Shi Lan drew a light breath and, against the vast torrent of energy, stepped alone into the spatial passage.

Beyond the passage, countless chaotic spheres of light drifted in the void like scattered morning stars. The powerful ones blazed with boundless brilliance, dazzling beyond compare, while the weak resembled candle flames that could be snuffed out with a single breath.

Even though she had gone through it many times already, passing through a spacetime passage still stirred Shi Lan’s emotions.

A few breaths later, Shi Lan’s feet touched solid ground once more. As far as the eye could see was a wasteland, barren and without a blade of grass. A feeling of exhilaration, as though all shackles had fallen away from heaven and earth, kept surging up from within her body. Her body relaxed involuntarily, almost greedily seizing the vitality between heaven and earth.

The vitality fluctuations in this world were not weak, but space here was somewhat fragile, far inferior to Lingyang.

“I’ve never been to this world before. It only exists in the system’s database. Its power level is much higher than that of the Qiongluo Realm, and according to the records, it has methods that specialize in cultivating the fleshly body.”

After listening to Samsara, Shi Lan casually chose a direction, directly opened a spatial passage, and with one step was already more than a hundred thousand li away.

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After a second step, a giant city came into view.

At the city gates, countless streams of people passed in and out. The peddlers and common folk coming and going all had sturdy muscles and vigorous blood and qi. Even without any obvious signs of cultivation, each of them possessed at least five or six hundred jin of strength.

Shi Lan was not particularly surprised by this. The reason mortals in the Lingyang Realm did not seem strong was only because they were in the Lingyang Realm. In other worlds, even someone at the first stage of the Body Tempering Realm had at least a thousand jin of strength. Otherwise, how could they bear the heavy burden of martial conflict?

The differences between worlds were enormous. One could not simply judge the true strength of a world by the external display of power alone.

The guards at the city gate wore leather armor made from some unknown exotic beast. Their builds were broad and imposing, and their blood and qi were far stronger than those of the peddlers and common folk.

[Zhuo Commandery]

Looking at the two ancient, unadorned characters above the city, Shi Lan concealed her true appearance and slowly entered with the flow of people.

As soon as she entered the city, she caught the scent of an extremely rich aroma of wine. Along both sides of the street, aside from shops selling grain, rice, oil, and flour, the greatest number of establishments were taverns.

From time to time, carriages passed by at the side. They had no coverings on any of the four sides, and the people seated upon them all wore broad-sleeved robes, with an air of nobility on their faces. Through Shi Lan’s heavenly eyes, she could even vaguely see a trace of crimson light on them.

If her guess was correct, they were officials of the imperial court, protected by a sliver of dynastic fortune.

Shi Lan silently walked along the long street, her divine sense spreading in all directions, sweeping over bookshops and taverns one after another. After filtering out the large amount of disordered information, the structure of the world before her gradually became clear.

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The land under heaven before her was divided into the nine provinces of Ji, Yan, Qing, Xu, Yang, Jing, Yu, You, and Yong. The place where she now stood was Zhuo Commandery in You Province.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, Immortal Qin fell, and Chu and Han contended for the realm. Emperor Gaozu of Han raised the divine sword Chixiao, slew the White Dragon, rose suddenly into the world, defeated the Hegemon-King Xiang Yu, unified all under heaven, and established the Great Han Dynasty. Later, after the Restoration of Guangwu, the dynasty had continued down to the present for more than a hundred thousand years.

The somewhat familiar names, together with the strangely familiar course of history, made Shi Lan unable to suppress her doubts.

This world was far too similar to the Han Dynasty in her memories. Aside from the vast gap in individual martial strength, almost everything else was identical.

The coincidence was a little too great.

Now Emperor Ling was on the throne, with eunuchs likewise holding power. Following the normal course of events, what would come next should be a time of war-fires stretching across the land and the rise of rival heroes, the age of the Three Kingdoms.

In such a heaven-and-earth environment, those undefeated generals from her memories would probably rise to an extremely terrifying level of strength.

As her memories were awakened bit by bit, some fragmentary pieces of information, nearly forgotten, surfaced from the depths of her mind.

“Zhuo Commandery…”

As she thought of the name she had seen upon entering the city, Shi Lan’s gaze shifted slightly. If her memory was correct, the ancestral estate of one of the top generals of the future was in this commandery city.

Perhaps, through this general, she could infer from one point the broader picture and glimpse some measure of the strength of the great heroes of the present age.

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Though these thoughts ran through her mind, Shi Lan’s steps did not stop. With her head lowered, she walked deeper into the city.

The farther in she went, the more prosperous the streets became. Most of the people coming and going turned into martial men with blazing blood and qi, as well as scholars carrying righteous qi.

“Stop!”

A light shout rang out from behind Shi Lan. A gust of force struck at her back, and the keen instinct left behind by years of battle made her twist around by reflex and clench her fist, sweeping it out like thunder exploding through the sky.

The instant she turned, Shi Lan saw clearly that the person behind her was merely a young man in his early twenties, more than eight chi tall, handsome in appearance, his face slightly flushed, a wine jar cradled in his hands, thick fumes of alcohol clinging to his body. He did not appear entirely sober.

The moment she threw the punch, Shi Lan had already reacted and drawn back eighty percent of her strength. When she saw who it was, she withdrew the remaining twenty percent as well. Her pale fist stopped barely an inch before the young man’s throat, while the violent gale of force swept across the long street, leaving wreckage strewn across the ground in an instant and throwing everything into chaos.

All eyes on the street turned toward them. Once the passersby saw the young man, they all retreated far away, not daring to come near.

“For a young lady, you’ve got some strength.”

The young man’s body had not moved in the slightest. He let out a drunken belch, his gaze somewhat unfocused, yet his words remained perfectly clear and organized.

“I’ve never seen you before. You’re all covered up. Where did you come from? What are you here for?”

Shi Lan slowly lowered her fist, her heart growing somewhat solemn. Her martial instincts were warning her that the young man before her was frighteningly strong. Anyone who could give her this feeling had to be eighth-rank, without question.

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This world truly was not simple. She had run into a powerhouse of this level just by chance.

“I came here to find someone.”

After a moment of silence, Shi Lan could only find an excuse.

“Who?”

“Zhang Fei.”

At the sound of that name, the young man’s eyes became much clearer. He sized Shi Lan up twice, then turned around with the wine jar in his arms.

“Come with me.”

Shi Lan silently followed his steps. Having only just arrived in this world, she did not want to stir up any major trouble. Behind her stood the four eighth-rank guards from the Qiongluo Realm. Even if danger arose, it would not be hard for her to get away.

Following behind the young man, the two of them crossed long streets, passed over the high walls of estates, and entered a courtyard.

The young man casually tossed down the wine jar, lay on a soft couch in the yard, then lifted his eyes to Shi Lan.

“My surname is Zhang, my given name is Fei, my courtesy name is Yide. What business do you have with me, young lady?”