Yefutidaolu

Chapter 425 Strange Disease
Gao Jian's actions were faster than the day and night wandering gods had anticipated.

He didn't use any special materials; instead, he casually tore a corner from his brand-new clothes and, using water mixed with mud as ink, wrote only two simple words on the rough cloth:
"Hello."

Then, he removed an ordinary thread from his clothes, tied the piece of cloth together, and walked straight to the edge of the ten-meter square star rift.

Just as the piece of cloth touched the tear—

A clearer sense of "loss" instantly seized Gao Jian! It was as if a part of him, not just his strength or spirit, but the very foundation that constituted the existence of "Gao Jian," was being forcibly pulled away through that insignificant thread and flowing to an unimaginably distant place.

"Buzz!"

A strange resonance did not travel through the air, but vibrated directly deep within his consciousness.

The vast expanse of stars below remained silent and coldly rotating, but Gao Jian clearly "felt" that his own existence was flowing away along that thin line at an unprecedented speed.

His physical body remained standing in the same spot, its outline clear, but in his inner perception, his image began to become blurred and transparent.

The chilling aura inherent in hell seemed to be separated by a thin film, no longer so real; the light emanating from the day and night wandering gods also became somewhat distant and distorted.

A sense of weakness, originating from the depths of his soul, spread through him. It was not a depletion of strength, nor a weariness of spirit, but a more fundamental wavering—as if his "qualification" to stand in the world was being stripped away.

He gripped the end of the thread tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force, his entire being focused on resisting the rift's frantic draining of "existence" itself.

At this moment, time loses its standard meaning; every instant feels as long and painful as eternity.

Gao Jian has never realized so clearly before that "existence" is not an illusory philosophical concept, but a resource that can be quantified, consumed, and even plundered.

After an unknown amount of time of torment, just as Takashi felt that his "outline" was about to completely dissipate into nothingness, the suction force from the star rift suddenly weakened.

With a slight tremor of the thin thread in her hand, the piece of cloth tied to it, bearing the words "Hello," vanished completely into the depths of the glittering starry sky, as if swallowed by the endless void.

The delivery is complete.

Gao Jian released his grip almost simultaneously, and the ordinary thread turned into specks of light and disappeared.

He staggered back a step, feeling a lightness in his body like never before, as light as a feather, as if even the winds of hell could blow him away and scatter him in the absolute darkness.

A strong sense of crisis prevented him from hesitating for a moment. He immediately sat down cross-legged and began to fully circulate the "Heart Lamp Illuminating Shadow Sutra." The light of the Heart Lamp shone in his consciousness, attempting to illuminate and stabilize his turbulent mind.

However, the effect was minimal.

His current trauma does not affect the specific level of the soul or the body, but rather wounds something more mysterious and fundamental in terms of "existence".

The lamp of the heart can illuminate the mind, but it cannot fill the void of "existence".

Almost instinctively, Takami realized a way to save himself.

He stretched out his hands and pressed them firmly onto the cold, hard, and weathered canyon floor beneath his feet. The ancient stillness and weight of the hellish rocks seemed to emanate from his palms.

He breathed in greedily, inhaling the foul yet hellish atmosphere of this place, trying to use the "realness" of this space to counteract his own "etherealization".

But that's not enough!
The next moment, he suddenly looked up, his gaze locked onto the day and night wandering gods in the air, and his figure sprang up, launching an attack on them without any warning!

The Day and Night Wanderers had clearly anticipated that Gao Jian would suddenly make a move, so their reaction was extremely swift.

The interplay of black and white light easily neutralized Gao Jian's somewhat hasty attack. They did not retaliate, but instead engaged in precise defense and evasion.

They understood Gao Jian's intentions from the very beginning.

He needs "interaction," he needs "cause and effect," he needs strong "connection"!
Battles, especially battles against two Earth Immortals, generate energy collisions, clashes of wills, and entanglements of cause and effect, which are themselves among the strongest and most direct "anchor points" in the world.

Gao Jian is using this extreme method to forcibly "nail" himself back to this reality, using new and intense causal connections to fill the "existence" that was just consumed, and to reaffirm his position in this world.

Every move, every clash of energy, was proof to his fading "presence": You are here! You are fighting! You are truly interacting with this world!
The sudden battle continued in absolute darkness, without any earth-shattering sounds, only the rapid whooshing of wind, the muffled thuds of colliding energies, and Takami's increasingly heavy breathing.

The day and night wandering god acted as the most tacit sparring partner, neither allowing Gao Jian to easily succeed nor inflicting any real fatal damage on him, but merely maintaining this battle that was enough to sustain his "existence".

After an unknown amount of time, Takami felt that the light, fading weakness finally began to subside, the heaviness in his body gradually returned, and his perception of his surroundings became clear and real again.

He feinted, leaped backward, and landed steadily. Although his breathing was a little uneven, his eyes had regained their previous sharpness and composure.

He exhaled a long breath, as if expelling all the illusions from his body.

The day and night wandering gods also stopped moving, hovering in the air again, silently watching him.

Gao Jian remained silent, only gazing once more at the stellar rift, his expression incredibly complex. A simple exchange of information had nearly caused him to "disappear." The danger of this rift far exceeded his expectations.

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At this very moment, in the divine capital of Yangjing.

This is a secluded place, yet it is so secluded that the whole world knows about it.

Its so-called seclusion does not refer to its remote location; on the contrary, it is located in the most magnificent and grand place in Yangjing—the Purple Palace Enclosure.

The Purple Palace Enclosure corresponds to the central star in the northern sky, hence it is also called the Central Palace, and is the residence of the emperor.

In the divine dynasty of the mortal realm, this place is the core symbol of the emperor and imperial power, the undisputed heart of the divine capital, Yangjing. The residences and palaces of imperial relatives, members of the royal family, and civil and military officials in the central government are layered upon layered, occupying nearly half of the land area and more than 90% of the three-dimensional volume of this giant city that floats above the sea of ​​clouds.

If someone could look down upon the entire capital city of Yangjing from a very high distance, they would see a breathtaking sight:

The massive floating city's main body, at its very core, is the Ziwei Enclosure, which resembles an incredibly thick, towering pillar piercing the sky. Its base alone occupies about one-tenth of Yangjing's total area, while its height and volume account for nine-tenths of the entire city! The rest, including the Twenty-Eight Mansions area, which appears magnificent to outsiders, surrounds the Ziwei Enclosure. In comparison, it looks like a vast expanse of dust drifting beside a giant egg, pitifully short.

Although these sandstorms are three-dimensional, swirling around the giant egg like a whirlwind and covering a vast area, the solid volume of the giant egg is there, making the difference obvious.

The Purple Palace Enclosure is so enormous that it soars into the clouds, and the palaces at its top often brush against the sea of ​​clouds. As a result, the people living in other areas of Yangjing are so accustomed to this colossal object that they develop a strange sense of "ignorance" due to their familiarity with it and the large difference in scale.

However, this disregard is not true forgetting, but a humility etched into the marrow by environmental differences.

No preaching or edification is needed; simply looking up at the Purple Palace that obscures most of the sky and seems to have existed since time immemorial, anyone in the capital city will naturally feel their own insignificance and the unparalleled power of the divine dynasty.

That's why it's said that the people of Shen Du Yang Jing (the capital city) are arrogant and haughty when they go out.

Because they had lived in this city, they could look down on the poor, remote areas outside.

This is why, despite the vastness of the world and the abundance of power, anyone with ulterior motives, once they step into this capital and witness this scene, often becomes timid before even engaging in battle, and finds it difficult to stir up any trouble.

Looking up at such a magnificent feat, who could believe that there is any force in the world that could shake the foundations of an empire that is as old as the heavens?

At this moment, deep within the Purple Forbidden Enclosure, lies the Imperial Palace Forbidden Garden.

Several people dressed in the robes of eunuchs were walking hurriedly along the eerily silent palace road, holding their breath.

They held in their hands an object that seemed out of place in this extremely luxurious environment—a slightly rough hem of clothing.

No one dared to speak, or even make a sound. In this deep palace, the rules were so strict as to be suffocating. To make a sound was punishable at the very least by being beaten to death, and worse... the only wish was to die a quick and painless death so as not to implicate one's family.

Inside the palace, which was filled with a faint medicinal fragrance and had an unusually solemn layout, just as the eunuchs had left, two people dressed in the robes of the Imperial Medical Academy stood facing each other, their faces expressionless, with only a hint of weariness and solemnity hidden deep in their eyes.

"Have you received the message from over there?" one of the older imperial physicians asked in a low voice, as if afraid of disturbing some unspeakable being deep within the palace.

Although eunuchs were not allowed to speak freely, some palace officials did have certain authority.

“Yes, but this time… it doesn’t seem to be the usual channel the Shui family uses to deliver these items.” Another, slightly younger imperial physician replied, his brows furrowed.

The senior imperial physician waved his hand: "There's no need to delve into the source. There will definitely be a reply process later, and we'll inevitably have to send someone over again... We still need to continue investigating what exactly caused that strange illness after the 'message transmission.' After all... His Majesty's condition..."

The young imperial physician immediately interrupted him, his tone carrying a cautious warning: "Be careful what you say! Focus on studying the illness; the rest is not for you or me to discuss."

Upon hearing this, the older imperial physicians immediately fell silent, merely nodding. Even as trusted eunuchs, they could not afford to be too presumptuous.

The two stopped talking and stood silently inside the hall, seemingly "sitting and watching" the palace scenery. But in reality, being in the innermost palace complex of the Purple Palace Enclosure, they couldn't see the sky at all.

This magnificent building, constructed with the utmost effort by the Divine Dynasty, has an internal structure that is more complex than one can imagine.

Tens of thousands of crisscrossing corridors, thousands of secret passages for various purposes, and countless hidden rooms and mezzanines together form an incredibly vast three-dimensional maze.

This is precisely why, from the outside, the Ziwei Enclosure resembles a nearly solid giant egg.

Newly selected eunuchs need to undergo rigorous training for at least a year just to familiarize themselves with the basic routes.

Every eunuch who can walk in this place has been carefully selected to ensure his loyalty—whether that loyalty comes from the heart or for some other reason.

However, despite its complex structure and isolation from the outside world, the palace does not feel cramped or oppressive inside.

On the contrary, the space is extremely open, with a high dome and columns that require several people to encircle. The ubiquitous lighting does not rely on candlelight, but on a special kind of glass or gemstone embedded in the dome, walls, and even the gaps in the floor tiles, emitting a bright, even, and soft light. Its color temperature and texture are almost identical to natural sunlight, and even more stable, with no darkness.

A faint, invigorating fragrance permeates the air, ensuring that those within it remain alert at all times.

If one did not know that this place was a forbidden palace, one would almost mistake it for a timeless, eternally bright paradise.

Before long, faint footsteps sounded outside the palace gates. A young eunuch, led timidly by two expressionless guards, entered. The eunuch was pale, his hands trembling slightly, and he held a letter written on bright yellow silk.

A thin string was tied to one end of the letter.

He was led to one side of the palace, where instead of a wall, there was a massive, seemingly smooth, jade-like stone wall. But upon closer inspection, one could see a section in the center of the wall where the light was slightly distorted, vaguely creating the illusion of twinkling stars—

Following a procedure rehearsed countless times, the eunuch took a deep breath, suppressed his fear, and carefully and slowly handed the yellow silk letter, tied with a rope, towards the area of ​​distorted light and shadow. The instant the letter touched the illusory image—

A sudden change occurred!

The eunuch's figure began to become illusory and transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye! It was as if his existence was being rapidly extracted by the letter and flowed to the other side of the starlight.

His face instantly lost all color, his eyes filled with extreme fear and confusion. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.

The two imperial physicians' eyes sharpened, and they immediately stepped forward, supporting the eunuch who was almost collapsing on either side. Their movements were skilled and swift, their fingertips gleaming as they placed their hands on the eunuch's wrist and brow, carefully sensing the strange "loss" within his body. At the same time, they took out silver needles, jade bottles, and other items to record various changes in his vital signs.

This strange illness, caused by "celestial communication," has been troubling the depths of the imperial palace... or rather, troubling His Majesty the supreme emperor for a long time. The primary task of these imperial physicians is to study the mechanism of this disease and find ways to alleviate or cure it.

(End of this chapter)