“This sure looks like a nice place to retire, but I’m not sure the wifey would want to live inside a giant anglerfish.”

Zhang Dong joked out loud while slowly floating through the place. At first glance, this was quite the paradise, with nice trees, and green grass that a person could just relax and sleep on while the sun’s rays hit their face. Lakes with clear water filled with various fish that would make all sushi chefs dreams come true.

‘Everyone else should have made it to the palace, if I survived then they should be fine too just at a different location. There should not be a reason to rush…’

While going through this place he was trying to calm down his own nerves. This time around a lot more people had come for this supposed last battle. Zhang Liena, his wife was there which caused him to worry even more. In theory, the golden palace wouldn’t be easily breached even by someone like Wang Long. However, with his faction system being blocked by something he could not check nor teleport back to their location.

‘Bob, can you explain why the system isn’t working?’

‘Data inconclusive, a spatial anomaly has been detected and is interfering with the system. The system needs to analyze the data before an assessment can be made.’

‘I figured as much, it’s never easy.’

There was some type of anomaly that had been triggered when he entered this place and it made him worry even more as he was part of something similar in the past. Then one instance of the system becoming bugged had transpired. This was when he was sent off into the other world as just his soul. Back then he could also not reach his old faction as he was in a whole other world.

‘It couldn’t be that I’m in another world again?’

He stopped while trying to use all of his senses. During the previous event of him traversing between worlds, his soul was ripped away from his body. He was only able to survive thanks to his involvement with the system and powerful pure soul. Then when he returned, Bob helped him reform his old body at the cost of most of his cultivation and old resources.

‘This isn’t like it… I am clearly in the same world, the energies here are the same, it must just be some type of pocket dimension that might be above the level of even the Dimensional Regalia.’

After some deliberating, he came to a conclusion. He had been tossed into a pocket dimension that had some similarities to the other worlds but was not quite there. Perhaps there were other ones like it that kept him away from his golden palace where everyone else was. If he was able to find his path there then at least some of the faction system features would open up.

‘That should be the case, but if I’m being blocked from even teleporting back to the sect, then even if I find everyone, we won’t be able to retreat. I guess this has to have been prepared beforehand or…’

In his mind, this place was prepared for some type of event by the powers that made this world. It had been probably designed before he even arrived in this world. The only other reasonable explanation would be that the overseer was responsible and she made a few changes to make things more difficult.

‘Perhaps I was doing too well for my own good? But that shouldn’t be the case, with the old system in place taking care of the Emerald Phoenix Emperor shouldn’t have been that hard either.’

He could only speculate while moving through these locations. His first attempt at getting out of this place was to fly straight up into the air. From the ground, it looked like this place had a normal blue sky along with a star shining over it. Yet after he got up to around twenty kilometers he hit an invisible wall.

Before giving it a good old punch he decided to let Bob run a few tests. It was not a formation barrier but something else. It felt like the end of the world imposed by whoever made this spatial space. One thing was clear, even without giving it a thwack he knew that he would not be able to force his way through. This thing was something on the immortal level and would not be damaged by someone that was still at the nascent soul realm.

‘I guess I’ll have to find a pathway instead…’

When glancing up he could see the glowing orb that represented the sun. It was further behind the invisible wall in an unreachable location to him. This somewhat reminded him about the trial area he had died before and was freed from his system. It could be the case that it was similar to that.

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‘If this place was made by the same person that made this world, then one of those cubes should be here to power it all. Maybe if I can find it and remove it, then it will collapse on itself…’

If he managed to grab the power source he would attain a large number of spirit points. However, there was a danger of removing something that was creating a pocket dimension. Without enough energy to sustain it, there was a possibility of it shrinking on itself and even imploding.

Perhaps he had enough power to shield himself from harm and leave through the thinned-out walls but what about the people that he came here with? If they were wandering outside just like he was now, then their lives were at risk. Staying in the golden palace and waiting for his return would be the best option for survival but he could not count on his people being passive. Liena along with Qiang were probably already out and searching for him. They could also be in trouble, this was in fact the place where the Cerulean Empress resided.

*WARNING, WARNING*

“Huh?”

While floating up in the air and touching the invisible wall, a strange shift in the environment occurred. First, he noticed that the wind had picked up and it wasn’t just a little summer breeze, this wind was sharp as a razor blade. Thanks to his recent gains of new Dao’s he was barely able to dodge the mass of wind blades that appeared out of nowhere.

‘These attacks are coming from behind the invisible wall? Did I trigger some type of defensive measure by coming so close to it?’

He wasn’t sure but the more he stayed up there the more turbulence he spotted. It was as if this place didn’t want him here, considering he reached the end of the map by going straight up this made sense. If this was some type of trial that had to be done, getting out through another location had to be forbidden.

Soon the temperature up in the air started to drop below zero and the fake star that was in the sky vanished. Something was triggered and he wasn’t sure if the process could be reversed as when it started to descend down, a blizzard had formed. All the nice green trees and nice lakes were instantly frozen over and when he was back down everything looked much different.

‘It’s like an apocalyptic wasteland now… wait, I sense something…’

After surrounding himself with a barrier of holy energy to keep the cold winds away, he noticed a new event. From the frozen lakes that had a few minutes ago been filled with various fish, a monster emerged. It looked similar to the humanoid fish people that were part of the Cerulean Empire army.

‘No it’s similar but quite more powerful than the drones my people encountered…’

The creature was much bigger than the counterpart that was encountered above ground. The scaly skin looked like it was made from dragon scales and its power was above that of core formation. When this monster fish noticed the golden glow it instantly was tossed into a maddened rage. Without giving Zhang Dong a moment to relax it charged forward.

It had powerful arms and webbed hands which ended with claw-like nails. Before it even got close it discharged a stream of yellow-green liquid from its mouth. Without even blinking he dodged to the side, the discharge hit the iced-over ground behind him and quickly dug into it.

‘Is that acid?’

Normally he would have stayed in place and just let the attack bounce off his holy shield but for some reason, it gave him a bad premonition. To test this theory he sends a secondary barrier in the path of the follow-up attack. The radiant glow was intensified after the corrosive substance collided with it. He expected it to evaporate or at least be bounced back onto the ground but instead, it persisted on his shield. The fluid started slowly dissolving the barrier he created, a feat that shouldn’t be possible.

‘This creature isn’t that strong, how can it disperse my Qi this easily?’

While the attack was able to get through his defenses, the creature was not up to par with his skills. A few dodges later he decided to create a sword of light to remove the fish's ugly head. Without it, the monster fell to the ground and quickly started turning into the same yellow-green substance. It was quite dead but the hole it left behind was becoming deeper as the ground wasn’t even able to contend with this strange liquid.

‘It must have some Qi dispersing properties along with eroding attributes, as long as I keep recreating the shield it won’t get through but I’m not sure if I’d be able to survive for long in a pool of that substance.’

The first enemy that appeared was dead but it wasn’t the only one. He wasn’t sure if this was due to him trying to escape through underhanded means or if it was a trap created from the start. Nevertheless, now he was feeling multiple creatures like the one that just attacked him appearing all over the place. They were all jumping out of the now frozen-over rivers and lakes to attack him.

‘I can’t let them surround me…’

While he was closer to the ground and the blizzard made it hard to move, he needed to get out of here. It would be over for him if he just remained in one place where the monsters could surround him. Thus after choosing a path he took for the skies. The monsters down on the ground in unison started spitting the strange goop toward him. Even with the winds raging they were capable of using their attacks like high-speed projectiles.

‘I think I saw something this way… I hope they don’t encounter these creatures…’

With a heavy heart he pushed onwards, what he needed to do now was find his people that were perhaps ill-equipped to fight these creatures for a prolonged time. Even the shield of his improved fortress might not be able to contend with these acidic attacks.