Successful Replication, Controllable Passage!

As the door slammed shut, the dim starlight from the distant cosmos vanished from Yu Sheng's eyes. It took a full half-minute before he snapped out of his momentary shock, then took a deep breath, belatedly breaking out in a cold sweat.

After opening the door, you don't necessarily arrive at a "location" on some otherworld or planet, and there's even a chance you could directly enter space?

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

At this moment, Yu Sheng even felt a sense of relief. He was glad that the first time he'd accidentally opened the "door," he'd stepped into an otherworld, rather than opening it into the deep void of space. If he'd been that unlucky, he couldn't even imagine what would have happened.

In the worst-case scenario, he might have experienced a rapid, continuous cycle of death and rebirth in the harsh environment of outer space, perhaps without any opportunity to maintain clear thought, let alone to explore and master the ability to open doors during this swift and continuous process of dying. Even if he had miraculously endured it, or luckily opened a door back to the surface through some fluke, it would undoubtedly have been an extremely terrifying experience beforehand.

After his pounding heart finally calmed down, Yu Sheng immediately began analyzing the new information he'd gained during the door-opening process.

When the door opened, he hadn't felt the terrifying "suction" of the vacuum on the other side, nor had he felt the coldness that outer space should possess.

But during the previous few times the door had opened, he could both hear sounds from the other side and feel environmental influences, such as the scorching airflow from a desolate planet.

Why was that? Did the "door" itself have some kind of filtering capability? When the environmental differences between the two sides were too great, would it actively block those influences? Or did "outer space" itself have some special characteristic, belonging to some kind of "coordinate" that could only be seen but not truly reached? Or perhaps... what he'd just experienced wasn't true outer space, but another kind of "otherworld" that looked like the starry sky...

Yu Sheng pondered, then glanced back at Eileen in the oil painting.

Eileen looked at him hesitantly, "Are we going to continue? You seemed startled just now..."

Yu Sheng closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, only determination remained.

"Continue."

He gripped the doorknob again, but with more caution than last time. He more carefully sensed the subtle and minute "spiritual guidance," while trying to recall the feeling of the times he had successfully opened the door before, attempting to... replicate a specific passage.

He slowly opened the door. The other side was just an ordinary scene, looking like a desolate beach.

That wasn't any door he had opened before.

Then, he tried again and again, opening the door repeatedly, searching for the path that led to Huli.

Or any other reproducible passage – as long as it allowed him to grasp the pattern of opening doors.

And in this continuous attempt, at one moment, Yu Sheng even had a fleeting thought: would there be a door behind which lay his familiar "hometown" from memory?

He still remembered that he had left home one morning and arrived at this "Boundary City." Although there was no concrete evidence, he was increasingly suspecting that was the moment he had truly "opened the door" for the first time.

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

So, in a future door-opening, would he push open the door and see his home from memory?

Yu Sheng forcefully suppressed the thought that had suddenly surfaced in his mind. He knew he had more pressing matters to attend to. Going home... he would consider it a hope temporarily buried in his heart.

The doors opened one after another: bizarre, ordinary, absurdly strange, and even... bustling and lively.

Countless distant worlds rushed towards him with each brief opening and closing of the door, then slammed shut. And in this repetitive process, Yu Sheng suddenly had a wondrous feeling.

This world... indeed, it wasn't just Boundary City.

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

So many sights, so many mysteries, so many strange and varied distant places – all revealed with each opening of the door, with just a casual push or pull.

He wasn't trapped in this city.

Eileen also seemed to slowly get excited. Although he didn't know why this person in the painting was so excited, she looked at the scenery outside the door with Yu Sheng and clearly became increasingly enthusiastic.

Since she couldn't move, she began commenting on the scenes outside the door –

"This mountain is so tall! There's something glowing on the mountain, will we have a chance to see it in the future?"

"The sea! What a big fish!"

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

"...It's a toilet, hurry up and go, hurry up."

"...You scared me, is there a ghost!"

The doll was never quiet. She chattered endlessly about whatever appeared outside the door. Yu Sheng initially found it a bit noisy, but gradually, Eileen's always novel exclamations became a bit of fun amidst the tedious "testing" process.

Then, just before opening a door one time, he suddenly felt a stir in his heart, as if when searching for a very narrow band with an old-fashioned knob-tuning radio, he had finally "hit" the right frequency. He sensed a previously opened passage – not the valley filled with hunger, but it was a door he had indeed opened.

Yu Sheng suddenly seized that feeling, and for the first time, actively controlled his "spiritual guidance," without any technique, relying solely on instinct, he moved towards that familiar passage –

He carefully 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 light swirling between the eaves and pillars of the grand hall. There was also a handsome young man in a brocade robe and an old man with the immortal demeanor and a youthful face despite his white hair.

The young man was being hung from the roof beam and spanked by the old man.

The old man's voice was full of vigor, and it could be heard clearly from here –

"How dare you follow your master for so many years! You secretly cultivated the demonic path! Speak! What is the matter with refining living beings in the alchemy furnace! What about the human heads! You, you, you... you have truly harmed the innocent!?"

The handsome young man in the brocade robe shouted while twisting on the roof beam, "Master, you've wronged me! I was just refining ordinary Spirit Nourishing Pills! How would I know that Junior Disciple Brother would see a person emerge from the alchemy furnace's fire door... Ouch, stop hitting, Master, you've wronged me!"

The old immortal master almost jumped up upon hearing this, "Do not quibble! When I previously inspected the alchemy furnace, I even glimpsed the spirituality of living beings! There were indeed living people in your alchemy furnace!"

Yu Sheng was dumbfounded, and then he saw a small figure emerge next to the doorframe – it was the Daoist boy who had held the fan before. The little brat's eyes widened as he glanced towards the door, and he ran towards the main hall shouting, "Master! Master! Senior Disciple Brother's alchemy furnace has human heads popping out again! It's the same one as before!"

The old man with the immortal demeanor then took out his bronze-headed leather belt...

Of course, it might not have been a bronze-headed leather belt; it was too far to see clearly – but judging from the young man's instantaneous scream, that thing was no less intimidating than a bronze-headed leather belt.

Yu Sheng slammed the door shut, a whirlwind of shock, excitement, and elation churning within him. After a good while, he spun around to Eileen with a joyous shout, "Eileen! I did it! I actually did it!"

Eileen flinched, startled. "Calm down, what did you do?"

"That passage just now, I've opened it before! I just controlled it myself and opened it again—the process is controllable! Reproducible!"

He was both excited and thrilled. Now that he'd confirmed he could truly control that subtle "spiritual guidance," it meant he could also control and reproduce any other "gate" he had opened before, including the valley where Huli was!

What he needed to do next was to recall the "frequency" he sensed in his heart when he fell into the valley before, even if he could only find a similar frequency. He would exhaust all possibilities until he found it!

Eileen also became excited along with Yu Sheng. However, the doll lady surprisingly regained her composure quite quickly this time. She spoke up, reminding him, "Hey, shouldn't you explain the situation to the person on the other side of that door first... the one hanging from the beam is about to be beaten to death..."

Yu Sheng froze, only then belatedly remembering this. It was mainly because opening doors had always been random before, and he wasn't used to a situation where the opening process was controllable and he could do things.

Then he reached for the doorknob, but a flicker of hesitation crossed his mind.

Was the person on the other side easy to talk to? That immortal-like old man... could it be the "Immortal" Huli mentioned? But it didn't seem like it. Mainly, the style wasn't that of an immortal who would open a travel agency. Perhaps they weren't in the same system... What if he couldn't explain it properly and the other party attacked? As a mortal, he definitely couldn't win... So, should he just speak through the door? They shouldn't be able to attack through the door, right? After all, when he closed the door before, that immortal-like old man had only sensed "living beings' spirituality" and hadn't come looking through the door...

A jumble of chaotic thoughts flashed through his mind. Yu Sheng finally gritted his teeth, concentrated again, and tried to lock onto the frequency of the previous door opening. After confirming it several times, he cautiously opened the door.

The joy of success welled up in his heart. He had successfully reproduced that passage again—

The immortal-like old man was holding the richly dressed youth, who had been drained for half the day, and they were flying over from a distance on a patch of rosy clouds.

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

Then, the richly dressed youth directly fell from the rosy clouds, almost crying as he shouted, "Don't play with me like this! Which esteemed Immortal Venerable Senior on the other side is it? Junior has offended you somewhere, please state it clearly!"

"I don't know! I was just passing by!" Yu Sheng was telling the truth. "I didn't know this was your Alchemy Furnace either—misunderstanding, truly a misunderstanding."

Then he directly closed the door.

Mainly, he was genuinely afraid the Immortal on the other side would attack.

Afterward, Yu Sheng turned back and stared at Eileen in the oil painting.

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

Eileen nodded vigorously. "I think you explained it clearly."

"...I feel quite sorry for them."

"...We probably won't encounter them again, the world is so big, right?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."