Unexpected Situation

Three thousand six hundred kilometers northeast of the Heavenly God Palace lies a city called Gao Le, one of the seven major cities of the Gravel World.

In a small restaurant in the city, Gu Ding and Bartholomew were sharing a large pancake.

"Delicious!" Gu Ding couldn't help but praise after just one bite.

Bartholomew frowned slightly. "More than three million years have passed, and the recipe has indeed been simplified. One main ingredient and two seasonings are missing, but the general flavor is still there."

"Uncle, have you ever eaten this kind of cake from three million years ago?" Gu Ding asked.

"It's not that I've eaten them; I taught them the earliest food preparation methods in this world. When I first came to this world, their ancestors were still eating raw meat and drinking blood. I obtained the recipe for this flatbread when I passed through a broken plane. Because it's simple to make, it was one of the first food recipes I taught the inhabitants of this world," Bartholomew explained, shaking his head.

"Food recipes?" Gu Ding's eyes lit up. He knew this was Bigge wanted, and he quickly asked, "Uncle, could I have a copy of these food recipes?"

"What? You know how to cook too?" Bartholomew asked, somewhat surprised.

"I can only make fried rice, nothing else. But I have a partner who's a great chef, and he'll be thrilled if he sees a new recipe." Gu Ding looked at Bartholomew with some anticipation.

"Okay, I'll organize it and make a copy for you." Bartholomew readily agreed.

After their fall in Celestine, Gu Ding and Bartholomew left the Heavenly God Palace and began traveling through the Gravel World. They sampled the world's delicacies and explored its unique scenery. Since Bartholomew was familiar with some of the world's locations conducive to cultivation, he acted as their guide.

The reasons he didn't take over the Heavenly God Palace were twofold: firstly, he desperately wanted to leave this world with Gu Ding; secondly, given his current physical condition, he was indeed unsuitable for such a role. Moreover, considering the Heavenly God Palace's current state of development, whether or not it had a Palace Master was actually unimportant, and he felt there was no need for him to get involved.

Over the course of several months, Gu Ding and Bartholomew explored almost every well-known city in the Gravel World and sampled all sorts of local delicacies.

Gu Ding's one-year period has finally come to an end.

"If nothing unexpected happens, today should be my last day in this world." Gu Ding also hoped to leave as soon as possible. Because in this world, without a way to enhance his divine source, his cultivation would hardly improve. Moreover, his physical and spiritual strength had already reached a limit; without improvement in cultivation, his strength would always be hampered by his cultivation level.

"I'll enter a deep sleep and hide in your Storage Space. Wait until you're teleported away from this world, then you can wake me up," Bartholomew said. He immediately formed several hand seals, and his soul quickly fell into a deep sleep, collapsing to the ground.

Gu Ding placed his sleeping body into the Storage Space and then patiently waited for the day to pass, awaiting the arrival of the teleportation beam.

Time passed by, second by second, and Gu Ding felt that time was passing unusually slowly.

"What time is it now?"

"This is the twenty-eighth time you've asked this question tonight..." Sea Emperor said with a hint of exasperation. "There's still about an hour and a half left. Can't you ask me something else?"

Gu Ding rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay. What time is it now?"

"..."

An hour and a half later...

"Sea Emperor, what time is it now?"

"The fifty-second time... less than thirty seconds left, it's almost time to start the countdown." The Sea Emperor had been completely worn down by Gu Ding. "I can finally be free. I've decided to display the time from now on, so don't ask me for the time anymore. Even if you do, I won't tell you. Just look for yourself."

Thirty seconds passed quickly. Sea Emperor timed it perfectly, waiting for Gu Ding to be teleported away, but found no reaction.

"Thirty seconds should have passed by now, right?" Gu Ding couldn't help but ask.

"We've arrived," the Sea Emperor replied.

"Why is there no reaction?" Gu Ding looked up and around, but saw no signs of anything happening.

"How would I know? The one-year term was something those wardens said." The Sea Emperor was actually a little doubtful himself.

"Could it be that you misremembered the time?" Gu Ding touched his nose and asked somewhat guiltily.

"Do you think such a thing is possible?" Sea Emperor had absolute confidence in himself. "We are Super Intelligence and can never make mistakes in our memories. Our data storage is different from the storage function of your brains. The memories of your human brains may be altered due to the influence of other functions of the brain, but ours will not. Moreover, no matter what space I am in, my perception of time cannot be wrong."

"Let's wait and see. Maybe the teleportation won't take effect immediately." Gu Ding remained optimistic.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the next day that Gu Ding, who kept looking up at the sky, began to look rather grim.

"Gu Ding, there's no need to look anymore. The teleportation won't activate. I've carefully deduced the reason for this situation, and the conclusion is that we can't be teleported away because we encountered that tremor in the teleportation channel, which caused us to deviate from our original path. The Gate of Purgatory can no longer find us. The only way to leave this world is for you to cultivate to the level of a Celestial God and then shatter the void of this Gravel World. But the chances of returning to your original world are extremely slim."

"You mean, I'll be trapped in this Gravel World until I become a god?!" Gu Ding had no idea things would turn out this way.

"Yes, I did have that worry when we went off track. But I thought the Gate of Purgatory would find us. Now it seems I overestimated the Gate of Purgatory." The Sea Emperor had experienced the power of the Gate of Purgatory, which was why he overestimated them.

"It's no use knowing. The changes in the orbit at that time were beyond our control and could not be altered by either of us." Gu Ding shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"So what are your plans now? Given this situation, the chances of fulfilling the three-year agreement with Lily and the others are almost zero." The Sea Emperor was completely at a loss.

"What else can we do? We can only cultivate to the Celestial God level as soon as possible, and then find a way back to the Universe Sea. Lily and the others should understand..." When Gu Ding said those last words, he was actually quite uncertain. He had promised everyone to wait for him for three years. If the three years passed and he hadn't appeared, the Gu Ding Pirate Crew might very well fall apart. This was the last thing Gu Ding wanted to see.

~~~

Happy Chinese New Year! May all your wishes come true and everything go smoothly in the coming year! (To be continued~^~)