Chapter 899: Chapter 898: No Turning Back

Every cultivator who approaches the range of the vertical eye black hole receives this message, a message continuously sent out by the Medicine King Furnace even after it fell into slumber. It’s akin to a sleep-talking murmur, yet its accuracy cannot be doubted.

“What’s going on? The esteemed Medicine King Furnace, an Innate Spiritual Treasure, can also be invaded by foreign entities, and ended up falling unconscious? Hou Niao found it hard to understand; isn’t the Medicine King Furnace the most powerful existence in this universe?”

Fairy Fei Bai’s face turned pale. She thought following the trend would allow her to enter the Magnificent World, but to her surprise, she had to fight for her life in the end.

“Why is it impossible? The fact that something could smoothly invade the interior of the Medicine King Furnace can only mean it’s an existence on the same level as the Medicine King Furnace. There are many such existences in the universe; why is it impossible?

Damn it, what exactly disrupted the operation of the Medicine King Furnace itself? If the first group hadn’t been sent back to Hell Star, these incidents wouldn’t have happened. Which scoundrel is responsible for this mess!”

Hou Niao weakly replied, “Hey, if those people hadn’t been sent back, wouldn’t you also not have the chance to come to Hell Star?”

Fairy Fei Bai glared at him, “How could I not have a chance? A safe and sound chance! It’s just sixty years later than the first group! I’m not competing with them, what’s sixty years? Now, the chance of dying in the vertical eye is high, and staying in Hell Star is quite likely. The possibility of opening the passage is slim; who else is to blame?”

Hou Niao was speechless. This is actually a very complex issue. The root lies in the emissaries from the Twelve Upper Realms trying to exploit the loopholes in the Heavenly Dao, perhaps also due to him rashly destroying the Yuqing Spirit Machine, but this is a muddled account that can’t be clarified.

Hou Niao suppressed his eager urge to dive in. After all, these people traveled together for five or six years. Reason and sentiment dictate that he shouldn’t leave them behind; having a beginning and end is his bottom line as a person.

“What do you all think?”

Daoist Yan Guan, who had remained silent throughout the years of travel, unusually spoke up, “I won’t wait here and let others decide my fate. If this is my end, I hope to walk into it actively, rather than waiting for doom to arrive.”

Another Daoist, Qi Zheng, simply said, “I don’t want to turn back. In my life, I never retrace my steps.”

These are two people with the style of ancient cultivators: indifferent, able to see companions fall into danger without offering help, as they believe it’s a hazard each should bear; their will is like steel, nothing can change them, possibly also the reason why they were chosen to come here among countless others.

Fairy Fei Bai was quite dissatisfied, “At least we should inquire what’s inside, right?”

Hou Niao shrugged, pointing at the wandering crowd outside, “As you said, we came here to find answers. Are you willing to waver like them, and eventually still step in, but lose your Heart Realm due to hesitation?”

The Medicine King Furnace was clear: it’s already powerless; meaning even if the time window opens after a year, the bridge between Hell Star and Jinxiu Continent might not be smooth, and then it will be another sixty or more years.

For those carrying a Boundary Domain and a Daoist lineage’s hope, how could they possibly wait? Ultimately, it’s a matter of weighing options. In the end, one still has to enter, unavoidable.

His venture into the universe as a Foundation Establishment cultivator was purely accidental, but what he experienced gave him profound shock. It was a cultivation world beyond imagination, where each day brought new experiences, new ideas, which he saw as the guarantee for his future advancement.

Knowing more only meant knowing there was more he didn’t understand. The most perplexing thing was Jinxiu Continent, an ordinary planet in the Cultivation World referred to as the Lower Realm. How did it become the focus of the Universe Myriad Realm?

All the incredibility stemmed from this point, yet he couldn’t touch the truth of it.

Just like the place he was currently in, inside the internal space of an Innate Spiritual Treasure equivalent to a Demi Immortal. If one day he returned to tell friends, he feared no one would believe it.

When all this culminated together, the secret of Jinxiu, Hell Star’s secret, and most importantly, his senior sister’s safety, even if he knew it was an irrational choice, he must proceed resolutely.

He knew there was danger; the fact that his senior sister told him nothing already signified something, in his view. The first batch of twelve Twelve Upper Realms visitors might know more of the truth.

His senior sister, however, treated him as a child yet to mature.

Fairy Fei Bai looked at him, “And you, what is it for you?”

Hou Niao smiled, “For the prosperity of Jinxiu, and the cosmic harmony.”

He slowly floated towards the vertical eye black hole, without looking back, “Pleased to have traveled with you for years. After entering, who knows if we can stay together, everyone has their reason, so follow your hearts.”

Seeing Hou Niao flying forward heedlessly, Daoists Yan Guan and Qi Zheng followed afterward. Fairy Fei Bai stomped her foot; did she have any other choice?

The four of them approached the vertical eye black hole, their bodies gradually blurred until they vanished, each eliciting different thoughts among the hesitant cultivators.

Some cultivators, after much hesitation, chose to follow in their footsteps, while others remained indecisive; they all came from the Upper Realm Daoist lineages, firmly aware of the perilous nature of space passages, filled with unpredictable dangers, even more daunting than life and death.

Forget Golden Core cultivators; even a Nascent Soul Master might find an unknown space passage consuming their whole life, endless space passage gaps inside where death is the best outcome. The bigger possibility is never finding a way out, eventually turning into a madman, a masterless wandering soul in the universe, until the soul body energy depletes.

Precisely because they knew too much, understood too extensively, so many of them wavered. Even with their determined will, faced with this crossroads of life, they underwent painful internal struggles.

Either grow through such struggles or face destruction.

Compared to them, Hou Niao was fearless in ignorance, but his three companions showed more formidable resolve. Knowing what they might face, they still ventured in, just this fact placed their Dao Foundation above most cultivators.

There’s only one year left, considering the time they took to arrive here, returning is impossible, everyone understood this point.

As time progressed, more and more cultivators gradually threw themselves in. As the number of people outside decreased, the ones left became increasingly restless.

Just as Hou Niao judged, though there appeared to be several paths, whether to advance, retreat, or stay, in truth, there was only one path.

No one could escape; from the moment they entered the Medicine King Furnace’s space, it was already preordained.