Breaking the World Barrier

At exactly nine o'clock, accompanied by a flash of blue light, He Shenyan returned to the door of his temporary residence.

He stood before the door and twitched his fingers slightly. The door creaked open on its own. As usual, he changed into slippers and walked into the living room, only to find someone standing with his back to him in the middle of it, his Cloak of Levitation billowing.

"Why am I not surprised at all, Strange?"

Without even looking at him, He Shenyan went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to get himself a can of Coca-Cola.

"It's not too late to give up, He."

The man called Strange turned around. He wore a fitted robe and a red high-collared Cloak of Levitation, and was actually floating in midair.

"What do you mean?"

He Shenyan smiled.

He walked into the living room and flicked his fingers. Another can of Coca-Cola flew out of the refrigerator and straight toward Strange.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, New York's bustling nightscape bore witness to the scene. Outside, traffic flowed endlessly, and the city was alive with noise and lights.

Strange raised a hand and caught the flying Coke, but did not drink it.

He descended to the floor, his expression complicated, a faint trace of pleading in his eyes.

"I know what you want to do, He. But it can't succeed—you're deeply respected here, so why must you leave?"

He Shenyan shook his head.

He sat there quietly, taking occasional sips of Coke.

Muffled sounds drifted in from outside. High-rise apartments in downtown New York enjoyed the best views the city had to offer. That also meant that the people living there were usually very lonely.

You could see the traffic and dazzling nightlife, but you could not hear their individual voices. It was as though you were cut off from the world.

"How many times have I saved this world, Strange?" He Shenyan suddenly asked.

"I can't remember." That was the answer given by the current Sorcerer Supreme.

"Yes, you can't remember—and I, I can barely remember what my hometown looked like."

Strange pursed his lips. He sat on the sofa opposite him and asked, "Can't this place be your home?"

"You know the answer." He Shenyan smiled again. "Let's get to the point. What do you want?"

"I want to persuade you to stop." Strange gritted his teeth, seeming almost ashamed to bring it up.

He Shenyan did not answer, making Strange's heart sink. A few seconds later, Strange raised a hand. The ancient pendant on his chest spun, and a gentle green glow bloomed from within it. "I looked."

The man who had entered Kamar-Taj before him, the man who had been more of a teacher to him than Ancient One herself, raised his head. A trace of disappointment he could not understand appeared in his eyes.

He heard He Shenyan say, "What you saw were only possibilities, Strange. I told you long ago that the Eye of Agamotto could only—forget it. How many possibilities did you see?"

"Ten thousand," Strange said. "And there were many more I did not have time to see."

"Ten thousand."

He Shenyan stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. With his back to Strange, he spoke slowly.

"At every moment, the future gives rise to different branches. We once studied prophecy and the future. Do you remember the conclusion we reached in the end?"

"I remember."

"What was our conclusion?"

"They were all bullshit."

He Shenyan burst out laughing. "Yes! They were all bullshit! So even if you saw ten thousand possibilities where I failed, I still believe that among those countless failures, I will succeed once. I only need that one success."

"You are far more outstanding than I am, He."

Strange closed his eyes and, in a tone close to a sigh, began speaking of something unrelated to what they were discussing.

"I don't understand why Ancient One made me the Sorcerer Supreme, and I don't understand why you accepted it. You were the one who exterminated the Skrulls, and you were also the one who killed Thanos with your own hands."

"Why, He? Why must you leave, even if it means risking your life?"

"Because I have to try."

He Shenyan suddenly turned around. His black hair fluttered as black Magic Power gleamed from his eyes. "I have to do this—for the past ten years, everything I've done has only been incidental to it."

"I once sought help from science, but science could not help me. So I turned to magic. I spent ten years becoming the strongest, mastering every spell. I even drove those Dimensional Gods out of our world, making Magic Power truly ours, so casting spells no longer required any so-called price."

"But that cannot cover up the deep longing in my heart, Strange. Between that longing and my life, there is no second choice. Yes, I know that according to current theories, there are many different worlds outside, and I may spend ten thousand years without finding the one I belong to."

"But I don't care. I have to try."

Strange knew that he could not persuade He Shenyan.

So he began discussing the feasibility of the matter in earnest. "If you want to break the World Barrier and leave according to the theories left behind by those lunatics throughout history, then how will you deal with the gaze of the Outer Gods?"

He Shenyan smiled again—he had finally brought it up.

The Outer Gods were creatures floating beyond the World Barrier. They were called gods, yet they were entirely impossible to communicate with, and could not even be looked upon directly.

No one knew their intentions, and no one who came into contact with them ever met a good end.

Moreover, throughout this world's long history, the World Barrier had been damaged twice.

Those two incidents caused countless deaths and brought Vampires, Werewolves, and all kinds of dark Monsters into this world.

Some said that Their gaze, even a curious glance, could make this world collapse and fall apart.

"I don't want to lecture you now. You've already graduated. So I'll keep it short, Strange. Among every spellbook in the world, you will find only one spell concerning travel between worlds."

"The madman, Waifan," Strange said gravely. "That infamous madman."

The madman, Vaivan Dukevich. The founder of existing theories on breaking the World Barrier, and the discoverer of the World Barrier. His reputation was impressive, but he had no good name in the history of Mages.

The spell he invented had no name. It was even said to have come from one of his dreams. Vaivan believed that besides the world beneath their feet, there should be countless magnificent worlds awaiting humanity's exploration.

He was the strongest Mage of his era. He considered himself humanity's pioneer. He spent thirty years studying the method of breaking the World Barrier, and at the age of one hundred and seventy-eight, he succeeded.

Relying on nothing more than a so-called dream, Vaivan developed a complete spell for breaking the World Barrier. Not only that, he even found the weakest point in the World Barrier.

Next, he spent forty years killing a Hell Demon Lord and imprisoning its soul. Then, at the weakest point of the World Barrier, he summoned an Intelligence Angel from Heaven.

—and then, he killed the Intelligence Angel and combined the two souls. Together with his own Magic Power, the three opposing forces erupted with unimaginable energy the moment they came into contact.

At the end of his life, Vaivan should have been smiling. He succeeded, but he also died. From beginning to end, he never considered how he might survive such an explosion, and then the consequences came.

The Basterville Incident.

When the explosion occurred, of the seventy Mages traveling with him, only three survived. At the same time, an amalgamation of flesh appeared in the transparent sky, though no one knew it.

Three days later, it had devoured the living beings of more than half the planet.

When it was destroyed, it stood three hundred meters tall. The corruption on its body was so potent that ordinary Mages would be corrupted immediately, becoming part of the rotting flesh on its body. Only powerful Mages wearing artifacts for spiritual protection could barely resist it.

The Mages called upon the Angels, but the Angels refused. They then turned to sacrifices to summon Demons, but the Demons also refused, even declaring that Earth was about to be destroyed—but in the end, Ancient One resolved it.

"Vaivan was excellent, but he was still bound by his era. In his time, spells like Portals had not even been discovered. Standing on his shoulders, we should be able to do better than him. In fact, I believe I can improve it."

Strange gave a bitter smile—yes, of course he could.

He would not deny it. No one could deny He Shenyan's talent in the path of magic.

He had improved countless theories and eventually devised a method of spellcasting that relied on the mind to distort reality, supplemented by Magic Power. The difficulty had increased, but its power and efficiency were five times greater.

The Wizarding World said that every Mage should thank him. Strange had no objection to that. He was one of the beneficiaries as well.

"What do you plan to do?" he asked.

He Shenyan smiled faintly. "Come with me."

He snapped his fingers. Black Magic Power gathered between them, and a Portal appeared in an instant.

True to his word, the man snapped his fingers. Black Magic Power gathered at his fingertips, opening a Portal. Beyond it was his laboratory, cluttered yet possessed of a strange order.

Strange followed him inside. A familiar scent of potion immediately cleared his head. He knew that this special fragrance belonged to a potion called Lucidity.

It could keep people Sanity and clear-headed, just like its name suggested. Its only drawback was probably that the preparation process and ingredients were rather unsightly. But all potions were like that.

With his hands behind his back, He Shenyan strode to the center of the laboratory. His casual clothes instantly transformed into an ancient black robe, its hem moving without wind. Flickering pale-blue Magic Power appeared in an instant, and the results of various complex deductions and calculations appeared before Strange.

"Well? My research results." He Shenyan smiled faintly. "You can study them for a while. Once you catch up with my progress and finish reading them, you should have more confidence in me."

Strange sighed helplessly, only to suddenly laugh a few seconds later.

"Making me do the grunt work? Just like before?"

"You came in on your own, Strange. I never forced you."

"Yeah."

The current Sorcerer Supreme rolled his eyes. "You certainly didn't, but every time, you just threw all this data in my face. How could I refuse after seeing this?"

"If you refused, then you wouldn't be a Mage."

He Shenyan burst out laughing. "Let's begin, Strange. Let us surpass this era once again."

A note at the very beginning.

If later readers find that the comments do not match the chapter content, that is normal.

When I first started writing this book, I treated it as a casual experiment, and many parts were made up recklessly.

But as I kept writing, I discovered that the income was pretty good. Besides, I genuinely found joy in writing.

A reader suggested that I rewrite some of the earlier parts that were unpleasant to look at, and I thought he made some sense.

So that was what I did. For now, the work is still ongoing.