The Void was vast.
The two flew side by side.
Jiang Ling pointed at the gray-blue star in the distance. "We're here."
Si Chen looked in the direction of her finger.
The star was small, utterly unremarkable in the vast sea of stars. Clouds could faintly be seen moving across its gray-blue surface.
From afar, it looked no different from the other Mortal Forbidden Zones, devoid of spiritual energy, with only a faint trace of life.
Si Chen withdrew his gaze and asked casually, "Auntie, have you been to a Mortal Forbidden Zone before?"
Jiang Ling glanced at him, automatically filtering out that form of address. "Your Third Uncle was someone I fished out of a Mortal Forbidden Zone."
Si Chen froze, then shook his head with a laugh.
It seemed his Third Uncle's ascension journey had also been affected by them.
He asked again, "Isn't it forbidden for cultivators to enter?"
Jiang Ling nodded. "That's what the rules say. You can't stay in a Mortal Forbidden Zone for more than a quarter of an hour."
"Most importantly, releasing immortal essence is forbidden."
"All Mortal Forbidden Zones have monitoring formations. If you stay longer than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, or release immortal essence, the formation will detect you."
"Then the local Immortal Domain's Heaven Patrol Bureau will come to arrest you."
Si Chen thought back.
When he had first ascended, he had indeed encountered people from the Heaven Patrol Bureau on Bai He's side on C-37.
But he had soon chased those red-armored cultivators into the Void, so he had not remained on that star.
"What if the Heaven Patrol Bureau fails?"
Jiang Ling explained, "Once the Heaven Patrol Bureau fails, the Immortal Kings of the various regions will be alerted first. And if it