A few days later.
"Mm... wait a moment..."
As the three walked along, they suddenly realized something important.
Guang Ling awkwardly looked at Cen Yu. "Um... do you know where the Clear Sky Sect is?"
Cen Yu looked at the two of them in disbelief. "You don't know where the Clear Sky Sect is?"
Even though he'd read the original story, he couldn't figure out where the Clear Sky Sect was just from a few words, could he?
Azure Luan and Guang Ling exchanged a glance, then shook their heads.
"After the Clear Sky Sect moved and went into seclusion, we never came here again. But... Gui Mei and Yue Guan should know."
"..."
Cen Yu sighed. "All right. Looks like we won't be collecting the Clear Sky Sect's debt today. Let's go back and find Yue Guan and the others first."
Once they'd agreed, the three immediately turned around, intending to retrace their steps.
Just then, Cen Yu looked to the side in confusion. "Huh? What's that?"
Guang Ling and Azure Luan turned to look. A stone tablet stood on a small mound by the roadside.
At first glance, it looked like a grave. But with a closer look, they could sense a strange energy inside the tombstone.
Azure Luan studied the ancient characters engraved on the stone tablet for a while, then asked the two beside him, "Do either of you recognize these characters?"
As soon as he asked, he felt like there was no point in asking.
Cen Yu's lack of knowledge went without saying, and Guang Ling didn't like reading at all.
Sure enough, Guang Ling awkwardly scratched his head. "Third Brother, you know I..."
"I found it!"
Just then, after rummaging around in his storage space for a while, Cen Yu brought out a large square box and set it on the grass.
The two asked in confusion, "What's that?"
The Great Enshrined and the Pope really doted on this kid. He even had things they'd never seen before.
Cen Yu pressed the ball on top of the box, then began tapping on a small square panel.
In an instant, a beam of blue light shot out of the box and fell on the stone tablet.
"I made this a while ago, when I was reading in the library. It has every book and historical record from ancient and modern times in Spirit Hall stored inside."
"Spirit Hall should have records of ancient characters like these."
Come to think of it, he hadn't expected it to be so easy to make a computer in the Douluo World.
Soul Power really was great. On Earth, you needed a photolithography machine to make chips, but all he had to do here was choose the right materials and craft them by hand.
Hearing this, Guang Ling asked in surprise, "Cen Yu, you know how to make this stuff? Can you make Soul Tools too?"
Tsk... Why hadn't he known how to do so much at that age? Could this kid really be a genius?
"Ding-dong—"
Soon, several lines of text appeared on the screen with a notification sound.
Cen Yu stared at the words on the screen, dumbfounded, then looked at the tombstone again in disbelief.
What the heck was this? The original story never mentioned anything like this!
Seeing Cen Yu's expression, the two looked at the words on the screen in confusion. "What..."
"What?!"
"Is this thing broken, or is it just inaccurate?"
What did it mean, these characters were from about fifteen thousand years ago?
The resting place of the Nine-Colored Sky Fox? What was that?
After a moment of shock, Cen Yu put the computer away and began inspecting the tombstone.
"The resting place of the Nine-Colored Sky Fox? If we go by the characters, could this tombstone really be from over ten thousand years ago?"
"But that doesn't make sense... Wouldn't the tombstone have weathered away after all this time?"
Wait... according to the usual novel plot, shouldn't he touch this thing now?
Thinking this, Cen Yu immediately reached out to touch the tombstone.
Seeing this, Azure Luan hurriedly shouted, "Wait! This thing—"
"Boom—!!!"
"Hey, wait—!"
The instant his hand touched the tombstone, a terrifying energy erupted from within it.
Then, in a flash, a huge vortex appeared and sucked in the three of them before they could react.
"Ugh... That hurts..."
Cen Yu clutched his sore backside and looked around at the completely unfamiliar place, utterly bewildered.
"Where is this...?"
Holy crap, the novel plot really was useful? This had to be a secret realm, right?
No, where would a secret realm come from in the Douluo Continent?
And wasn't this secret realm way too huge? Even Azure Luan and Guang Ling were nowhere to be seen.
Just then, a sensation that made his scalp crawl abruptly surged through Cen Yu.
He turned around instinctively and saw a being he could hardly believe was real.
"This..."
It was a white fox with nine tails.
As Cen Yu stared in a daze, its nine fluffy tails swayed gently.
The next moment, nine-colored energy gradually flowed across all nine tails.
In an instant, a terrifying aura burst forth, pressing Cen Yu straight to the ground.
He stared at the white fox before him in disbelief.
Wait, was this a nine-tailed fox? Where the hell did a nine-tailed fox come from in the Douluo Continent? Was this seriously not some shameless revenge plot by the Asura God?
Just then, the white fox glanced at the young man and spoke indifferently. "Human, how did you get in here?"
"Judging by your aura, you must come from the Douluo Continent, right?"
How strange. Though this realm was attached to the Douluo Continent, so much time had passed that the link between the spaces had long since broken. How had this human gotten in?
Hearing this, Cen Yu activated his Martial Soul to resist the pressure and got back to his feet, grimacing. "Um, senior... Sky Fox, I don't know either."
"I just touched a tombstone of the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox, and then I appeared here."
"Oh?" The Nine-Tailed Sky Fox ignored his answer and instead studied the Martial Soul behind the young man with interest.
"Tsk, tsk... Your Martial Soul is pretty unusual. I've never seen one like it."
"Let's see... divine attribute... light attribute... and auspicious attribute. Quite an upright one, huh?"
In stories, weren't beings like this usually saviors or protagonists?
"How interesting. Not only is it a divine-level Martial Soul, but you can even resist my pressure."
Seeing that the white fox before him meant no harm, Cen Yu breathed a sigh of relief.
Phew... Thank goodness. At least this wasn't the work of that shameless Asura God.
With an aura this terrifying, even with Guang Ling and Azure Luan at his side, the three of them probably couldn't beat it.
Thinking this, he asked awkwardly, "Um, senior... may I ask where we are?"
"I should have had two companions come in with me. Do you know where they ended up?"
As he spoke, Cen Yu cupped his hands toward the white fox. "If we've offended you in any way, please forgive us, senior."
"They're both old men, well past their fifties, and not in good health. Please don't hurt them."
Elsewhere.
Guang Ling and Azure Luan exchanged a glance, looking around at the unfamiliar area in confusion.
"What is this place? An alternate dimension?"
Suddenly, Guang Ling whipped around and looked about. "Wait! Where's Cen Yu?!"
Hearing this, Azure Luan also hurriedly looked around. Sure enough, Cen Yu was nowhere to be seen.
Before you continue