Chapter 31: Chapter 28: The Descent

“Is it time to traverse now?”

Lin Yuan felt a surge of joy in his heart.

The traversing ability of the Door to the Myriad Realms was not without limits.

It needed time to accumulate energy, which manifested as it being ‘lit up’ bit by bit.

When Lin Yuan returned from his first traverse, he obtained relevant information from the Door to the Myriad Realms.

The degree to which the Door to the Myriad Realms was lit up was divided into the lighting of the peripheral edge, the interior region, and the core area.

With the peripheral edge lit up, one could traverse, but the method of traversal was consciousness descending.

If the interior region was lit up, physical body traversal was possible.

As for the core area being lit up, it related to some kind of transformation of the Door to the Myriad Realms.

The information Lin Yuan received only described this briefly.

The three degrees of illumination required increasing amounts of time.

The peripheral edge lighting took about eight months to a year.

To light up the interior region, it would take several years to a decade.

As for the core area lighting up… Lin Yuan estimated.

It would probably take decades, or even centuries.

“Go ahead with the consciousness traverse.”

Lin Yuan was not particularly interested in physical traversal.

One reason was that accumulating enough energy for physical traversal took too long.

Another was that the margin for error in physical traversal was too low; death meant true death.

In comparison, the cost-performance ratio of consciousness traversal was much higher.

“However, before traversing, some preparations are still needed.”

Lin Yuan composed himself and began to make arrangements.

Mainly, to inform his parents that he might ‘disappear’ for a while.

Even though there was a discrepancy in the flow of time between higher and lower worlds,

Lin Yuan was not sure about the level of the world he was about to traverse into.

If the time flow was not much different and he stayed there for decades, only a few years might pass in the Main World.

That could be troublesome.

Once everything was prepared,

Lin Yuan left the underground training field and came to the door of a room.

“After this traverse, I should be able to deduce the evolution pathway of Martial Tao to the Second Layer.”

“Then, continuing to upload it to the Goddess of Wisdom, the merit points I’ll get should allow me to raise my citizen level to three…” Lin Yuan silently contemplated.

Half a year earlier, Lin Yuan had uploaded the improved ‘Mythological Chapter’ and ‘Carefree Chapter’ of the Martial Canon.

He was rewarded with three thousand merit points.

At the same time, the ranking of Martial Tao’s evolutionary pathway on the Canglan Evolution Ranking rose from ninety-third to seventy-eighth.

The hundred evolutionary pathways listed on the Canglan Evolution Ranking were ranked by the Goddess of Wisdom based on her vast computational power, incorporating potential, popularity, difficulty of practice, among other factors.

The Martial Canon ranked ninety-third when it had only the “Grandmaster Chapter” and “Great Grandmaster Chapter”, but adding the ‘Mythological Chapter’ and the ‘Carefree Chapter,’ its overall potential further increased, which naturally reflected in a rise in ranking.

It could be predicted that when the Martial Tao evolutionary pathway officially broke through to the Second Layer, its ranking would inevitably rise another notch.

After all, the transition from the First Layer to the Second Layer represented a qualitative change, a major leap recognized by the human civilization of the universe.

All in all, uploading the Martial Tao evolutionary pathway provided Lin Yuan with a total of five thousand merit points.

Advancing to a second-level citizen consumed one thousand merit points.

Four thousand merit points remained.

To advance from a second-level citizen to a third-level citizen, five thousand merit points were needed.

“Let’s begin.”

Lin Yuan pushed open the room door.

He walked towards a two-meter-long nutrient pod.

During his first traverse, Lin Yuan had no choice but to proceed with the forced conscription bearing down on him, enduring the process.

Luckily, it turned out well, as he spent twenty years in the Martial World, but only over ten minutes passed in the Main World.

Now, of course, Lin Yuan would not just idle away doing nothing.

This nutrient pod was a military-grade item that Lin Yuan had purchased through Mr. Liao’s channels.

Once activated, it could sustain for no less than two hundred years.

That is to say, as long as Lin Yuan lay in it, unless he got up on his own, the nutrients inside the pod could sustain his body for two hundred years’ worth of needs.

This gave Lin Yuan a great sense of security; at least he would not return from traversing to find his body starved to skin and bones.

As the usage of the nutrient pod flashed through his mind, Lin Yuan opened the hatch and lay down inside.

“Traverse.”

Lin Yuan’s spirit merged into the Door to the Myriad Realms deep within his mind.

In an instant, an intangible force of suction came forth.

Lin Yuan only felt his consciousness rapidly plummeting.

…

Zhang Family Fort.

Adorned with lights and festivity.

What a joyous occasion.

Everyone in the fort knew that Mr. Zhang’s wife had given birth to an offspring, a boy at that.

Before this, Madam Zhang had successively brought forth eight daughters, provoking all sorts of idle gossip.

“Madam has worked hard.”

Inside the room, Zhang Kun, overwhelmed with emotion, put down the baby swaddled in his arms, looked at the frail woman lying on the bed, and spoke with a voice full of compassion.

“It’s not hard, Zhang Lang, this is our child…”

Madam Zhang’s face was somewhat pale, but she still forced herself to sit up, took the swaddle into her arms, and her eyes were filled with tenderness.

The two shared a tender moment.

Then Madam Zhang began to speak of serious matters.

“My husband, the Myriad Demons Sect has been restless lately, showing signs of approaching this way. Have you notified the Daoist of Dragon Tiger Mountain?”

“Rest assured, Madam.” Zhang Kun patted his chest and said.

“I’ve already sent a messenger to Changqing. He should be almost here by now.”

As Zhang Kun spoke to this point, he paused, then continued, “Besides, what is there to fear from the Myriad Demons Sect? Am I not considered a first-rate expert in the martial world? Why would I fear those demonic brats?”

His tone overflowed with formidable confidence as he said this.

…

“It seems that this birth is not bad at all.”

What Zhang Kun and his wife didn’t know was that, as the couple conversed, the baby wrapped in the swaddling clothes opened its eyes, revealing a depth not befitting its age.

Naturally, this infant was Lin Yuan. From the short conversation of his parents, Lin Yuan deduced that his father in this life seemed to have a decent social status.

At the very least, when he was born, there were no less than five midwives present, and additionally, over a dozen maidservants attending.

This much was certainly beyond what an ordinary person could afford in any world.

As he thought, Lin Yuan felt sleepy.

When Lin Yuan opened his eyes again, he was met with extremely noisy sounds.

The door was tightly shut, but the sounds of fighting could be heard outside.

His own mother’s face was filled with anxiety.

“What’s going on?”

Lin Yuan opened his eyes wide.

Wasn’t everything fine just a moment ago?

How did it come to this?

His mother, seeing that Lin Yuan had awakened,

immediately came over, eyes brimming with tears, and said, “Child, eight steersmen from the Myriad Demons Sect have attacked. Your father and the experts of the fort have gone to meet them in battle.”

“We will surely repel the Myriad Demons Sect…”

His mother held Lin Yuan, and rather than genuinely comforting her child, it seemed she was reassuring herself.

After a moment,

the door was thrust open.

His father, Zhang Kun, entered, drenched in blood.

“Zhang Lang, how are things outside now?”

Mother Su Yun asked anxiously.

“We can’t hold them back. The Myriad Demons Sect didn’t just send eight steersmen; there’s also a protector lurking in the shadows. Our Zhang Family Fort… Zhang Family Fort is finished…”

Zhang Kun’s face turned ashen.

He had never anticipated that in order to deal with Zhang Family Fort, the Myriad Demons Sect would actually dispatch a protector.

To become a protector of the Myriad Demons Sect, one had to be at least beyond the level of a first-rate expert.

“What should we do now?”

Mother Su Yun fell silent for a while before asking.

“You two should go.”

Zhang Kun approached the back of the bed, gave it a light tap, and a secret tunnel emerged.

“This tunnel stretches ten miles out. Take the child and go as far as you can, never come back in this lifetime.”

After opening the tunnel, Zhang Kun seemed as if he had lost all his strength and nearly collapsed to the floor.

“Zhang Lang, let’s leave together. Let’s depart from here together.”

Su Yun glanced at the tunnel and immediately looked at Zhang Kun.

“I can’t go.”

Zhang Kun shook his head, “I was struck by a palm from the Myriad Demons Sect’s protector. My heart meridian is severed; I won’t live much longer.”

Zhang Kun looked at Lin Yuan, his voice growing gentle: “I had even thought of a name for you, calling you Shanfeng, to be the peak of our Zhang Family Fort.”

“Unfortunately, there’s no future left.”

Having said this, Zhang Kun took out a jade pendant and placed it in the swaddling clothes.

Two characters were engraved on the front of the pendant.

Shanfeng.

After doing all this, Zhang Kun looked up at his wife Su Yun.

“When the child grows up, don’t tell him about his origins.”

“Just live an ordinary life, and never think about avenging me.”

Having said that, Zhang Kun pushed Su Yun into the tunnel.