Bartholomew

Having left the tunnel where he had been submerged for ten days, Gu Ding floated in the void, looking down at the underground world with some surprise.

This underground world seems to exist completely independently of the Abyss Blood Pool, because not a single drop of the blood pool's liquid can be seen here, and the powerful sense of oppression that was present in the blood pool is completely absent.

However, out of caution, Gu Ding did not revert to his original state, but continued to exist in the form of the White Jade Emperor Body, which was over 370 meters tall.

He spent ten days submerged in the long tunnel, but he did not stop cultivating his imperial body. The size of the White Jade Emperor Body increased slightly compared to before.

"This place... seems to be a cemetery..." Gu Ding concluded after observing the area.

"What do you mean 'seems like'? This is clearly a graveyard." The Sea Emperor's detection abilities were still ineffective in this space. He still used Gu Ding's eyes to see everything around him and shouted with great certainty, "Look, in such a large palace, besides a few pillars, there is only one large coffin. What else could it be but a graveyard?"

"Okay, you have a point."

Gu Ding looked at the coffin. He was quite certain that there was no longer any sign of life in this space, but the coffin gave him a strange feeling. This made him lower himself and walk towards the coffin.

It was a semi-transparent Ice Crystal Coffin, and the closer one got, the more one felt a bone-chilling cold. Even Gu Ding, whose current strength was comparable to that of Third Sequence true god, could clearly feel the chill that penetrated deep into his soul, and even his body began to slowly be covered with a thin layer of frost.

"This coffin is truly eerie," the Sea Emperor couldn't help but say.

Gu Ding braved the chill and walked to the coffin, looking down at it.

The Ice Crystal Coffin was surrounded by a thin layer of mist. Gu Ding ran his hand across the surface of the coffin and then he could see that there was a Purple-Robed Man robes inside.

The man appeared to be around forty years old, with a sharp and resolute face. Even in his fallen state, it was easy to tell that he must have been a man of immense power and influence in his lifetime.

"Gu Ding, this guy's height..." Sea Emperor suddenly spoke up.

Gu Ding then noticed that the man was less than two meters tall, which made him realize that the man, like himself, was not a native of this world.

Just as Gu Ding was stunned, the man in the coffin suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils gleaming with golden light.

Gu Ding was startled by what he saw. He was usually bold, but he was still quite surprised by the sight of the dead coming back to life. Besides, he had clearly checked the cemetery beforehand and there was no sign of any living creatures there.

After the man opened his eyes, the lid of the ice coffin opened automatically, and the man's figure slowly floated up from the ice coffin.

Gu Ding took a few steps back, looking at his opponent with a wary expression, as if he was ready to fight or run away at any moment. Making such a move in his massive Emperor form looked somewhat comical.

The man hovered in the void, looking at Gu Ding. After examining him for a moment, he did not attack, but raised his eyebrows and muttered, "Five-Star Mid-rank God? His physical body, soul, and divine source strength have all reached the level of Half-Step True God. He has even condensed a body of the Third Sequence true god strength... No wonder he was able to break in."

Gu Ding broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this, realizing that his true nature had been seen through at a glance.

"Young man, it's tiring for me to talk with my neck tilted back like this. You should put away your imperial form, just to be considerate of this old man." The man suddenly said to Gu Ding. "Besides, if I really want to attack you, it won't make much difference whether you use your imperial form or not."

Gu Ding couldn't sense the opponent's strength at all, and he knew it was because the opponent was far stronger than him. Without hesitation, he immediately relinquished his Emperor form, and Gu Ding, whose body rapidly shrank, quickly appeared before the opponent in his original true form.

Upon seeing Gu Ding's true form, the man was immediately surprised. "You're an outsider?!"

"That's right, just like you, I'm not a native of this world." Gu Ding readily admitted, since the other person wasn't a native either. Although they might not be from the same place, there was a feeling of meeting a kindred spirit in a foreign land.

"I come from the Lin Bo World, which plane do you come from?" the man couldn't help but ask.

"A plane... I don't know either. I only know it's a Basic Plane." Gu Ding shook his head.

"I forgot, your strength is not enough to travel outside the Basic Plane," the man then realized that Gu Ding's strength was not actually enough to travel between planes. "But I'm curious, how did you come to this world?"

"We arrived here through a time tunnel." Gu Ding didn't explain in detail, since he wasn't very familiar with the other party.

Seeing that Gu Ding was unwilling to speak, the man guessed what Gu Ding was thinking and did not press him. Instead, he continued, "My name is Bartholomew, and I am a plane traveler. But as you should have seen, I have already perished."

"My name is Gu Ding. You said you perished? But you look like this now..." Gu Ding was puzzled. The other party clearly had a complete physical body and was also conscious, which meant that his soul had not been completely annihilated.

"It doesn't seem like it, does it?" Bartholomew a helpless wry smile. "Actually, my soul is intact, and my body is intact as well. As for why I've become like this, it has to do with the spacetime rules of the Space-Time Disordered Land. You should also know that the world we're in now is a grain of Gravel World in the Space-Time Disordered Land, right?"

"Hmm." Gu Ding. He was very curious about the story Bartholomew was about to tell, and he pricked up his ears, afraid of missing a single word.

"In this Space-Time Disordered Land, every Gravel World exists in a different time and space. In some Gravel World, time may be several eras ago in our Real World. And the world we are in now is such a grain of Gravel World."

"The enclosed restrictions on the periphery of this world are actually things that automatically formed by the rules of spacetime. All living beings born within these rules of spacetime cannot exist outside of them. Therefore, all living beings in this world cannot leave unless they can cultivate to a level that ignores the rules of spacetime. But even gods cannot do that."

"Because I am an outsider, according to the spacetime rules here, I have not actually been born yet, and therefore am considered non-existent by the spacetime rules. Under these circumstances, the closure restrictions of this world are actually ineffective for me, and I can enter and leave at any time. However, after my demise, this situation changed."

"I perished as my soul was annihilated, but after my demise, the spacetime rules of this world detected my death. Under the time rules of this world, I didn't actually exist, so I couldn't have perished in this world. Because this is a contradiction in itself, something that doesn't exist naturally has no life and can't die. Precisely because of this, the time rules of this world directly restored my soul to the state it was in when I first entered this world."

"At first, I was quite happy, thinking I had escaped a close call. Later, I realized that it wasn't like that at all. Because my soul had been reshaped by the spacetime rules of this world, the nature of my soul had changed, and I had become a member of this world. However, my physical body still did not exist in the eyes of this world. Therefore, from the perspective of spacetime rules, my physical body did not actually exist for my soul. A break in spacetime rules had formed between my soul and my physical body, making it impossible to form a connection."

"This has led to my current situation where my physical body and soul have become two completely independent entities. I can only occasionally borrow this body in a state of repose, and as for fighting, I can forget about it at all."

Bartholomew's words left Gu Ding speechless for a long time before he finally reacted. "I think I understand what you mean. The spacetime rules of the physical body and the spacetime rules of the soul have become out of sync, causing the soul and the body to be completely unable to fit together."

"That's right, that's exactly what I mean." Bartholomew nodded.

"Then what can I do to help you?" Gu Ding certainly didn't think he could solve the problem for the other party, after all, the other party was a powerful being at the level of a celestial being. If even he couldn't handle it, he probably couldn't help much either.

"Originally, I planned to select a few good materials to receive my life's inheritance, and then hope that they could break through to the level of gods, take me away from this world, and help find someone to heal my current condition." Bartholomew said, looking at Gu Ding with some eagerness in his eyes, "But now that I know you are also an outsider, things are much simpler. You can just take me away from this world."

"I can take you away, but not now. It will take eight months." Gu Ding then revealed some information about the Gate of Purgatory. "I must stay in this world for a full year before I can be teleported away."

"Eight months? Then waiting another eight months won't hurt. I've already waited for millions of years anyway." Bartholomew didn't pressure Gu Ding to leave any earlier.

"I have another question, but I don't know if it's convenient for you to say it," Gu Ding hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "With your strength, how could your soul perish? Did you encounter Heavenly Tribulation?"

Upon hearing this question, Bartholomew's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.

~~~

[One update for now, more will be added starting Friday.] r1152