Entering the Hundred Broken Mountains

"Is this the Hundred Broken Mountains?"

Di Yi surveyed his surroundings. The land here was perfectly flat, without mountains or hills, nothing like its name suggested. Calling it the Hundred Broken Plains would have been more fitting.

Still, although the scenery had nothing to do with mountains, he knew this was the Hundred Broken Mountains. The Heaven Mending Pavilion's Sacrificial Spirit, the Divine Vine, could not have sent him somewhere completely unrelated.

Presumably, this had something to do with what both Tao Ye and the Heaven Mending Pavilion's Divine Vine had told him: it was not yet time for the Hundred Broken Mountains to open.

"Are the true Hundred Broken Mountains hidden within these plains...?" Di Yi walked around the area for a while, probing it with his perception through true understanding and Divine Radiance runes.

Yet even after probing, he still saw no sign of the supposed Hundred Broken Mountains.

It seemed the Hundred Broken Mountains were not within these plains.

"Could those so-called Hundred Broken Mountains be that gateway?" Vast chaos was reflected in Di Yi's pupils. At its far end stood something resembling an entrance-a glowing gateway, much like the passage opened by the Heaven Mending Pavilion's Divine Vine.

When he had been unable to see the supposed Hundred Broken Mountains earlier, he had briefly wondered if something was wrong with his eyes. After all, as far as he understood it, nothing existed that he could not see.

Now, however, he felt that perhaps his understanding had been mistaken.

The true Hundred Broken Mountains did exist, but not here; the name did not refer to a physical location on these plains. They were hidden behind the vast chaos normally invisible to the eye, standing apart as a world unto themselves.

In other words, that gateway certainly served a purpose. Like a passage, or a door through which one came and went, it connected the Hundred Broken Mountains to these plains.

"Come on, let's go." Di Yi motioned for the Golden Hou to follow and headed toward the glowing gateway.

Rumble!

As Di Yi stepped forward, his gaze seemed to tear through something, and the entire plain changed in an instant.

At that moment, great banks of mist rose at the far end of the land, hazy and ethereal. Then came a series of thunderous crashes that shook heaven and earth, sending out millions of rays of radiant light.

At the same time, many hazy outlines appeared across the plains, like projections cast by light. Range after range of mountains flickered in and out of sight, like flowers in a dream and the moon reflected on water.

Boom!

As Di Yi drew closer to the glowing gateway, the mist grew increasingly dense. Eventually, ripples formed within it, rushing toward him like roaring waves.

The towering waves were a vast expanse of white, as though a god had been enraged. They struck with such force that the entire plain thundered, making heaven and earth seem to break apart.

"Are you trying to keep me from approaching?" Di Yi looked toward the glowing gateway and the surging Chaos Qi. Unconcerned, he continued forward.

Before long, he reached the glowing gateway. The chaos could not encroach upon him, and he stepped straight inside with the Golden Hou.

The moment he entered the gateway, Di Yi sensed an obstruction, but to him, it was incredibly fragile.

He did not force his way through. Instead, he reined in his strength as much as possible and gently broke through the obstruction. After all, this gateway still had its uses.

Besides, he did not want to destroy anything. There was no point in doing so.

Thud!

As though something had been broken open, the glowing gateway suddenly grew unstable and let out a dull impact.

At the same time, all those dreamlike flowers and watery moons vanished, as if they had truly been severed, dissolving as they disintegrated into light.

Only after Di Yi had vanished completely into the passage did the gateway seem to resign itself to its fate. It fell dormant once more, hiding everything as it repaired its shattered Selection Runes within the chaos isolated from the world.

Meanwhile, at the far end of the plains in another direction stood a city named Broken Void. Every living being within it was alarmed upon hearing the commotion.

"The Hundred Broken Mountains... how could something like this happen?"

"The passage has opened,

"how is that possible? Isn't it still too early?" In the bustling Broken Void City, where carriages flowed like water and horses streamed like dragons, voices suddenly erupted into a clamor.

How could they not know what the opening of the Hundred Broken Mountains meant? It was a place of tremendous opportunities. Whenever it opened, it shook the world, and all the greatest clans and major sects throughout the boundless Great Wilderness and its vast mountains and rivers escorted their geniuses there.

But the Hundred Broken Mountains only opened once every few hundred years. It was not yet time, so its passage should not have appeared at all.

"A vast Ancient Kingdom once stood on this ancient land, glorious beyond compare. Could some of its surviving people still be alive and know how to enter while the passage is closed?"

"Impossible. If that were true, do you think the great clans and major sects wouldn't covet it? They would certainly get their hands on the method. But the truth is, they have to wait for the passage to open just like everyone else."

"Then what could it be? Look at that spectacle. The Chaos Qi has absolutely surged to its highest intensity. Anyone who touches it will die. Could someone be trying to force the passage open?"

"Nonsense. That place is a world unto itself, with its own rules and order. Even if a Human Emperor descended, he couldn't interfere. Force the passage open? Why don't you guess that a god has descended instead?"

"How could that be? The gods have all gone far away."

"There you have it. Stop dreaming up nonsense. Why the Hundred Broken Mountains opened has nothing to do with us. With something this huge happening here, the right thing to do is seize the opportunity and make a tidy sum selling information."

In fact, as soon as Broken Void City had erupted into a clamor, the informants stationed here by the great clans and major sects had already begun sending word.

After all, the Hundred Broken Mountains were an immensely important place. Countless prodigies had risen from within them, and some of their names even shone with the aura of gods, recorded in the ancient histories of this boundless land.

"Things are going to get chaotic here." An old man stood atop Broken Void City's wall, gazing toward the Hundred Broken Mountains.

What had caused this no longer mattered. What mattered was that there was only one gateway through which to enter or leave the Hundred Broken Mountains.

Entering the Hundred Broken Mountains before they opened was an earth-shattering matter. The great clans and major sects would never sit idly by. They would surely all gather here.

One could well imagine the storms that would brew then.

"This really is a fine place. I wonder why it's called the Hundred Broken Mountains. The name doesn't feel very fitting." Emerging from the passage, Di Yi looked at the world that suddenly opened up before him and drew a breath of its air.

The spiritual energy here was denser than at the Heaven Mending Pavilion. Clearly, this was a magnificent little world.

"Roar!" The Golden Hou was overjoyed. This place felt wonderfully comfortable, and he immediately broke into a run, plunging headfirst into the pristine, clear lake ahead and greedily breathing in the wisps of spiritual energy rising from it.

"We came here with something to do. Let's go." After calling out to the Golden Hou, Di Yi set off, leaving the place where they had first entered.

He was not particularly familiar with the Hundred Broken Mountains, but he knew a little about them in broad terms. After all, the Elder Paranormal had caused such an uproar that he had asked about it.

According to Tao Ye, throughout the ages, those targeted by the Elder Paranormal had explored nearly every place in the Hundred Broken Mountains that held great opportunities. Only a handful remained incompletely explored: the Hundred Herb Garden, the Treasure-Splitting Cliff, and the Heavenly Bone Forbidden Zone.

He decided to visit the Hundred Herb Garden first.