1. Crossing Over to Another World

In the southwestern mountain ranges of the Tianyan Continent, the scenery is picturesque and the air teems with spiritual energy. At the summit of the highest peak, Jade Void Peak, stands a sect dedicated to cultivation—the Jade Void Sect.

Inside one of the Jade Void Sect's chambers—

“Master, I mean no disrespect, but if you have no money, shouldn’t you just stay quietly in your cave and meditate? Why come here and stir up trouble? Now that you've lost, what will you pay with? How will all these senior and junior disciples view you—a dignified elder of the Jade Void Sect?” At this moment, Mo Fei, full of righteous indignation, pointed at an elderly man beside the gambling table.

The elder, disheveled from head to toe, was enjoying himself immensely, clutching a chicken leg in one hand and a wine gourd in the other, legs crossed as he drank merrily. Do not underestimate this untidy figure; he was one of the eight great elders of the Jade Void Sect, a formidable master in the early Voidrealm—known as the Untidy Immortal.

Mo Fei himself had been found by this elder twenty years ago during his travels. Mo Fei had only just been born and had been abandoned by his parents. The Untidy Immortal, sensing a fated connection, brought the child to the Jade Void Sect.

“I lost, but isn't my dutiful disciple here? Why not lend me a little? I'll trade you this Barrier-Breaking Pill for it,” the Untidy Immortal said, setting aside his wine gourd and rummaging in his robes until he produced a pitch-black pill for Mo Fei.

Mo Fei, exasperated by his unreliable master, took out a handful of spirit stones from his storage pouch and tossed them to the others at the table, finally sending them off. He didn’t even bother to glance at the so-called Barrier-Breaking Pill. If his master had anything valuable, wouldn’t he know? That pill was probably formed from the grime on the old man's body.

“Master, I finally found this way to earn some money, and you insist on meddling. Don't you want to keep eating meat and drinking wine?” Once everyone else had left, Mo Fei addressed the Untidy Immortal.

“You brat, always neglecting proper cultivation for these dubious schemes!” the Untidy Immortal said, resentfully.

Mo Fei had possessed extraordinary talent since childhood: he established his foundation at eight, formed his core at twelve, and now, at twenty, had reached the late Golden Core stage. He was the most gifted disciple the Jade Void Sect had seen in nearly a millennium.

“Master, you yourself said my state of mind isn’t strong enough, so I shouldn’t rush my breakthrough. Why are you scolding me now?” Mo Fei protested.

“I told you not to rush so you could spend more time honing your mental cultivation, not so you could gather a crowd to gamble!” The Untidy Immortal grew increasingly irritated, reaching to twist Mo Fei’s ear, only to have him dodge away.

“You’re about to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. If your state of mind isn’t sufficient, the breakthrough will backfire and you’ll go mad. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! Here, take my token and go to the Scripture Repository—find a mental cultivation method to temper your mind. Stay quietly in your room and don’t even think about leaving!” With that, the Untidy Immortal tossed a token to Mo Fei.

Inside the Scripture Repository—

Mo Fei searched the rows of bookshelves. “‘Heartless Method’—just from the name, clearly not for someone as loving as me. Pass. ‘Calming Mantra’—could the name be any duller? Pass…” He skipped one heart technique after another, nearly turning the entire repository upside down without finding a satisfactory manual.

“Hmm—‘Traveling the Worlds’—what a bold name! Let’s see what it is!” As Mo Fei was about to finish his search, a nondescript manual in the corner caught his attention.

“Wait, it’s actually an array technique. Hmm… but its description seems impressive! Mastery allows one to instantly set up a spatial channel connecting distant places, achieving instant teleportation. Not bad—if I can learn this array, I could traverse the sect’s protective barrier and explore the outside world!”

The Jade Void Sect was nestled deep in the mountains, surrounded by a protective barrier that isolated it from the outside. Mo Fei knew he had been picked up from outside by his master, and so he was ever curious about the world beyond.

“Master once said that cultivating arrays is the most demanding on one’s mental state. When I was weaker, he told me to focus solely on improving my cultivation. Now that my progress is limited by my state of mind, why not use array study to advance? Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?” With that thought, Mo Fei immediately decided to cultivate “Traveling the Worlds.”

Three days after returning from the Scripture Repository, Mo Fei arranged spirit stones in his courtyard according to the positions described in “Traveling the Worlds.”

“It makes no sense! I placed everything exactly as the manual described—why is there no reaction?” Mo Fei muttered, staring at the array he had set up.

“Traveling the Worlds” contained many arrays related to space, and Mo Fei’s was the simplest among them.

Ever since acquiring the manual, Mo Fei spent every day studying arrays. He had always been fascinated by the spatial storage pouch his master had given him. How could such a tiny bag contain so much? Now, after studying arrays, he realized that besides their own space, there existed countless dimensional spaces. Storage pouches connected to these spaces through arrays, allowing them to store items.

Today, Mo Fei was attempting to set up an array to connect with an unknown dimensional space. Unable to rely on his cultivation, he used spirit stones to provide energy. Yet, after completing the arrangement, the array remained inert.

“Could it be a lack of spiritual energy?” Mo Fei wondered. He tried injecting his own energy into the array; as he neared exhaustion, the array finally responded. Space above the array began to distort, forming a small spatial vortex with a grain-sized black dot at its center. The dot, spinning with the vortex, absorbed the surrounding spirit stones and Mo Fei’s energy, growing steadily larger.

When the black dot grew to roughly the size of a thumb, Mo Fei realized something was wrong. His spiritual energy was being drained uncontrollably. Sensing the depletion, the golden core in his dantian spun rapidly, sending energy throughout his body. Yet the black dot, like a bottomless pit, swallowed everything.

Facing the mysterious spatial portal, Mo Fei’s hope was fading. How he wished his unreliable master would appear now—his cultivation should be enough to resolve this crisis! But when the last trace of energy in Mo Fei’s golden core was consumed by the black hole, the Untidy Immortal still did not show up. Powerless, Mo Fei was pulled into the black hole by its overwhelming force.

With no energy left to sustain it, the black hole gradually repaired itself according to the laws of this world. The courtyard returned to calm, leaving only a pile of spirit stones, now dull and lifeless.

It was only then that the Untidy Immortal staggered in, clutching his wine gourd. When he saw the courtyard in chaos, he immediately dispelled his drunkenness with a burst of cultivation and called out for Mo Fei.

“You brat, what on earth have you done? How did you turn the courtyard into this mess?” Receiving no response, the Untidy Immortal noticed the stones on the ground. With his cultivation, he instantly recognized them as array components—specifically, for a spatial array.

“That foolish boy! I told him, with insufficient cultivation, not to experiment with arrays, especially spatial ones. Doesn’t he know he can't withstand the backlash with such low cultivation?”

Now, the Untidy Immortal understood exactly where Mo Fei had gone—he must have been swallowed by the spatial array. Tears streamed down his weathered face.

As for Mo Fei, after being devoured by the black hole, he felt himself traversing a dark space. There was no sound, no light, and his body was drained of all energy.

He didn’t know how long it lasted, but eventually, a fissure appeared in the darkness. The sudden light made Mo Fei squeeze his eyes shut, and he felt a powerful force pull him toward the crack.

Thud! Before he could react, Mo Fei realized he had fallen into water. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was no longer surrounded by pitch darkness. Looking around, he found himself in a lake, bordered by primeval forest.

Checking his condition, he found his golden core dim and inert within his dantian. “I have no idea where I am. Looks like I’ll have to leave the forest and find someone to ask!”