Chapter 34: Successful Replication, Controllable Channel!

As the door slammed shut, the dim starlight from the distant cosmos vanished from Yu Sheng's eyes—it took a full half-minute for him to snap out of that moment of shock, after which he took a long breath, a cold sweat breaking out on him in belated realization.

Opening the door didn't necessarily mean arriving at a specific "location" on some exotic land or planet; there was even a certain probability of stepping directly into outer space?

The randomness and the scope of this "door's" randomness far exceeded Yu Sheng's imagination!

At this moment, Yu Sheng even felt a surge of relief—he was glad that when he had accidentally opened the "door" for the first time, he had stepped into an exotic realm rather than opening it into the deep void of space. If he had been that unlucky back then, he couldn't even imagine what would have happened.

In the worst-case scenario, he might have entered a rapid, continuous, and unrelenting cycle of death and rebirth in the harsh environment of outer space, perhaps without even the chance to maintain a conscious mind, let alone the opportunity to grope around and master the ability to open the door during such a swift and continuous process of dying. Even if he had miraculously endured it, or luckily stumbled upon a door back to the surface, it would undoubtedly have been an utterly terrifying experience.

Once his pounding heart finally calmed down, Yu Sheng immediately began to analyze the new intelligence he had gathered during the opening process.

When the door opened, he hadn't felt the terrifying "suction" brought by a vacuum environment on the other side, nor did he seem to feel the expected cold of outer space.

However, during the previous few times the door had opened, he had been able to both hear sounds from the other side and feel certain environmental influences—such as the scorching currents of air on a desolate planet.

Why was this? Did the "door" itself possess some kind of filtering property? When the difference between the two environments was too vast, would it actively isolate those influences? Or was there something special about "outer space" itself, making it a kind of "coordinate" that could only be seen but never truly reached? Or perhaps... what he had just seen wasn't true outer space, but another kind of "exotic realm" that merely looked like the starry sky...

As Yu Sheng pondered, he glanced back at Irene in the oil painting.

Irene looked at him hesitantly: "Do you want to continue? You seemed quite startled just now..."

Yu Sheng closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they held nothing but determination.

"Continue."

He gripped the doorknob again, but with more caution than last time. He more carefully sensed that subtle, minute "spiritual guidance," while simultaneously trying to recall the feeling of his previous successful openings, attempting to... reproduce a specific passage.

He slowly opened the door. On the other side was merely an ordinary sight, looking like a desolate beach.

It was not any of the doors he had opened before.

And so, he tried again and again, opening the door time after time, searching for the path that would lead him to Hu Li's side.

Or any other reproducible passage—as long as it allowed him to grasp the patterns of opening the door.

In the midst of these constant attempts, a brief thought even flickered in the depths of Yu Sheng's heart—would there be a door that led back to the familiar "hometown" in his memory?

He still remembered that he had arrived at this "Boundary City" one morning after pushing open his door and leaving home. Although there was no explicit evidence, he was increasingly suspicious that that moment was, in fact, his true first time "opening the door."

It was just that, back then, he had been completely unaware.

So, in some future opening, would he push the door open and see the home from his memories?

Yu Sheng forcibly suppressed this sudden thought. He knew he had more pressing matters to attend to. As for going home... he would treat it as a hope temporarily buried in his heart.

The door opened again and again—sometimes bizarre, sometimes ordinary, sometimes absurd and eerie, and even... prosperous and bustling.

Countless distant worlds rushed toward him during each brief cycle of opening and closing, only to slam shut again. In this repetitive process, Yu Sheng suddenly experienced a wonderful sensation.

This world... indeed, there was more than just the Boundary City.

Outside this massive "City of the Boundary," which seemed to possess all sorts of special qualities... it was so vast and boundless.

So many landscapes, so many mysteries, so many strange and diverse far-off places—all right there, every time he opened the door, with a simple push or pull of his hand.

He was not trapped within this city.

Irene also seemed to gradually grow excited. Although he didn't know what exactly this painted doll was getting excited about, she was clearly becoming increasingly enthusiastic as she watched the scenery outside the door alongside him.

Unable to move, she began to comment on the scenes passing by—

"That mountain is so high! There's something glowing on it, can we go see it if we get a chance later?"

"The ocean! Such a huge fish!"

"Wow! It's all snow, but why is it pale blue... it doesn't look like there's any life there..."

"...It's a toilet, let's move, let's move."

"...Scared me! There's a ghost!"

The doll was never quiet for a moment, chattering incessantly whenever something appeared outside the door. At first, Yu Sheng found it a bit noisy, but gradually, Irene's constant, varied outbursts became a bit of joy in the tedious "testing" process.

Then, just before an opening, he suddenly felt a stir in his heart, as if an old-fashioned knob-tuned radio had finally "hit" the right frequency while searching a very narrow band. He sensed a passage he had opened before—it wasn't that valley filled with hunger, but it was indeed a door he had opened.

Yu Sheng suddenly seized that feeling, and for the first time, he actively controlled his "spiritual guidance," abandoning all technique and relying solely on instinct to gravitate toward that familiar passage—

He cautiously pushed the door open and looked across.

He saw flames burning around the doorframe.

He also saw a solemn and ancient hall in the distance, with spiritual radiance drifting between the eaves and columns. There was also a handsome young man dressed in exquisite silk robes, and an elderly man with a transcendent, immortal air and white hair.

The young man was currently being hung from a ceiling beam by the old man and was being beaten.

The old man's voice was full of vigor, and it could be heard clearly even from this side—

"To think you've followed your master for all these years! And yet you secretly practice demonic arts! Speak! What is the meaning of refining living beings in the alchemy furnace! What is the meaning of those human heads! You... you have truly harmed the innocent!?"

The handsome young man in silk robes was twisting on the beam while shouting: "Master, you've wronged me! I was just refining ordinary Spirit-Nurturing Pills! How was I to know my junior brother would see a person emerge from the furnace's fire gate... Ow! Ow! Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, Master! I'm innocent!"

Hearing this, the old immortal nearly jumped up: "Cease your excuses! When I inspected the furnace earlier, I even glimpsed the spirituality of living beings! There were indeed living humans in that furnace of yours!"

Yu Sheng stood there dumbfounded. Immediately after, he saw a small figure pop up next to the doorframe—it was the young Taoist boy with the fan from before. The kid widened his eyes, took one look toward the door, and then ran toward the main hall, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Master! Master! Another human head popped out of Senior Brother's furnace! And it's the same one as before!"

That transcendent old man immediately whipped out a copper-headed belt...

Of course, it might not have been a copper-headed belt; it was too far to see clearly—but judging from the young man's instantaneous scream, whatever it was had a deterrent power no less than a copper-headed belt.

With a *bang*, Yu Sheng slammed the door shut. Shock, agitation, excitement—all sorts of emotions intertwined. After a long while, he turned to Irene and shouted in surprise: "Irene! I did it! I did it!"

Irene was startled: "Calm down, did what?"

"That passage was one I've opened before! I just controlled it myself to open it again—the process is controllable! It's reproducible!"

He was both excited and agitated. Having confirmed that he could truly control that subtle "spiritual guidance" meant that he could also control and reproduce any other "door" he had ever opened, including the valley where Hu Li was!

What he had to do next was find a way to recall the "frequency" he had sensed in his heart when he fell into the valley. Even if he could only find a similar frequency, he would keep trying through exhaustive searching until he found it!

Irene clearly became excited along with Yu Sheng, though the doll lady was unexpectedly quick to regain her composure this time. She spoke up to remind him: "Um, shouldn't you first explain the situation to the people on the other side of that door... the one hanging from the beam is about to be beaten to death..."

Yu Sheng froze, only then belatedly remembering that point—it was mainly because every previous opening had been so random that he wasn't used to a controllable opening process where many things could be done.

He reached out to grasp the doorknob, but a flicker of hesitation crossed his mind.

Were the people on the other side easy to talk to? Would that transcendent-looking one... be the "Immortal" Hu Li had mentioned? But it didn't seem like it; the art style didn't look like the kind of immortal who would run a travel agency. Perhaps they weren't from the same system... What if he explained himself poorly and they attacked him? He was just a mortal; he certainly couldn't fight back... Should he just say something through the door? They shouldn't be able to attack through the door, right... after all, when he had closed the door before, that transcendent old man had only sensed "living spirituality" but hadn't followed him through the door...

As a chaotic mess of thoughts flashed through his mind, Yu Sheng finally gritted his teeth. He concentrated once more to try and lock onto the previous opening frequency. After confirming several times, he finally cautiously opened the door.

The joy of success welled up from his heart; he had successfully reproduced that passage again—

The transcendent old man was currently escorting the silk-clad young man, who had been beaten for a while, as they flew from the distance atop a cloud of rosy light.

Even through the door, Yu Sheng didn't dare get close. He simply shouted loudly: "It's all a misunderstanding!"

Immediately, the silk-clad young man fell straight out of the rosy clouds, shouting as if he were about to burst into tears: "You can't play like this! To whichever Immortal Senior is on the other side, if I have offended you, please just say so plainly!"

"I don't know! I'm just passing through!" Yu Sheng told the truth, "I didn't know that was your alchemy furnace—a misunderstanding, a real misunderstanding."

Then, he slammed the door shut.

Mainly, he was truly afraid the immortal on the other side would attack through the door.

Afterward, Yu Sheng turned around and stared blankly at Irene in the oil painting.

"...Do you think I explained it clearly?"

Irene nodded vigorously: "I think you explained it clearly."

"...I feel like I've done them wrong."

"...You probably won't run into them again. The world is huge, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

(End of Chapter)