Chapter 163: The World After Shrinking
Li Zhangzong teleported the young man from Azure Dragon out of the pocket dimension. Clearly, he did not meet the mission's requirements.
He then looked at the remaining three people and smiled. "All right, let us get down to business. I already understand the situation outside. If this so-called Star rank truly exists above God rank, and Edward, the progenitor of the Blood Race, manages to advance to it by transforming three hundred million people into members of the Blood Race, then the National Pocket Dimension Project alone may not be enough to stop him.
"Therefore, I have made some adjustments to the plan. They will require the cooperation of everyone in the country, and the three of you will be responsible for the most crucial part. The pressure may be immense. Do you have confidence that you can handle it?"
Mystic Light solemnly said, "I do. As long as it means protecting our homeland, I am willing to make any sacrifice, even lay down my life!"
Scarlet Kite nodded as well. "Rest assured, Elder Li. No matter how difficult the mission is, even if it costs us our lives, we swear to see it through."
"Elder Li, just tell us what you need us to do," Yu Xian said.
Li Zhangzong nodded in satisfaction. He took out three wristbands and motioned for them to put them on. When they did so, he produced more than forty jade tablets and distributed them among the three.
"These are coordinate locators. Do not lose them. Once you insert one of them into the wristband, your spatial perception will detect a specific set of spatial coordinates." He brought out more than forty enormous black stone steles. "You must then place these stone steles at the corresponding locations."
Scarlet Kite had expected the task to be extremely difficult. After hearing his explanation, she froze for a moment and asked, "Elder Li, is that all?"
"No." Li Zhangzong took out three red jade tablets, and his expression turned grave. "After completing those steps, insert this red jade tablet into the wristband. At that point, you will be able to sense every stone stele connected to the National Pocket Dimension Project. At the same time, the tablet will transmit to you the convictions of everyone across the country. Your task will be to channel that power into every stone stele.
"The power of those convictions will be extraordinarily chaotic, and enduring it will require tremendous willpower. Should you find yourself unable to bear it, remove the red jade tablet immediately. Remember, do not force yourself. Otherwise, there is a very real possibility that the power of those convictions will overwhelm and kill you."
The three of them accepted the red jade tablets. The moment their fingers brushed the surface, they felt the jade gradually warming up.
Once Li Zhangzong saw that all three had put away their red jade tablets, he slowly turned his back to them. "All right. There is no time to lose. Set off!"
He immediately teleported the three of them out.
When Yu Lie and the others saw the group of three emerge, they hurried forward to question them. Only after confirming that all three had passed Elder Li's test did they breathe a sigh of relief.
They had just seen the young man from Azure Dragon get kicked out. When they found out it was for failing to meet Li Zhangzong's standard, it had made the directors of the factions that the other three spatial users belonged to somewhat nervous. They had feared that none of the candidates would qualify, which would prevent the plan from even being initiated.
After explaining what had happened inside the pocket dimension, Yu Xian said, "Director, to avoid any unnecessary delays, I'll leave to carry out the mission now."
Yu Lie nodded. "All right, go. Be careful!"
"Yes, sir!"
Yu Xian enveloped himself in a spatial bubble. In an instant, he returned to the Blue Planet, back to Silver City. He teleported home. Nangong Wanwan had changed into a maid outfit and was sweeping fallen leaves in the garden. She looked up, spotting Yu Xian on the balcony, and called out with a respectful tone, "Boss!"
Yu Xian glanced at her, somewhat curious about where she had gotten the maid outfit. However, he had work to do, so he merely nodded before taking out a coordinate jade tablet and inserting it into his wristband.
He sensed a set of spatial coordinates. In his perception, the coordinates glittered like a star. He immediately enveloped himself in energy from the core of the Dragon Shield and, with a flash of red light, teleported directly to the location.
Deep beneath a certain city, even farther underground than its sewers, the government had carved out a chamber. Inside this chamber, Yu Xian took out the corresponding stone stele and set it heavily upon the designated coordinates. He watched the golden characters on the stele's surface slowly dissolve into energy, flowing from the base of the stele into grooves prepared in advance. Golden energy immediately sealed off the entire chamber.
When Yu Xian glanced at the chamber's only door, he understood why spatial ability users were needed for this mission. Simply getting inside this chamber would have been an enormous hassle for anyone else.
Merely completing the verification process required to open the door would take a week. The door itself was ten meters thick and forged with large quantities of supernatural metals. Even a Dragon-rank powerhouse would probably need three or four days to force it open.
As for the chamber, countless formations had been incorporated into its construction. Once the National Pocket Dimension Project was fully implemented, no spatial ability user would be able to enter it without wearing one of the wristbands.
Yu Xian swapped out the coordinate jade tablets and placed each stone stele at its designated location. He had been assigned fifteen steles in total, yet only twenty minutes had passed by the time he finished installing them all.
He contacted Yu Lie and asked whether the other two spatial users had completed the first step. Upon learning that they were still carrying out their missions, he simply found a mountain, sat on a boulder at its summit, and took advantage of the lull to use Steal Heaven's Workings to absorb spatial energy. The more spatial energy he accumulated, the larger the pocket dimension he could create.
After stealing a portion of Li Zhangzong's spatial energy, he could already create a space roughly the size of a swimming pool. Even so, he was still nowhere near his limit.
A short while later, he had siphoned away an amount of spatial energy equivalent to the size of a basketball court. Fortunately, the world he was in did not possess anything like a world consciousness or the Eight Consciousnesses. Otherwise, the world itself would have singled him out and shown him what it truly meant to have death constantly closing in.[1]
After acquiring enough spatial energy, he created a basketball-sized potworld bubble and instantly entered it. Sitting within the empty space, Yu Xian looked out at everything beyond it, which had become enormous, and muttered, "This seems somewhat similar to the principle behind spatial rings."
To maintain the basketball-sized pocket dimension, he had used the Art of Vast Within, Small Without. Simply put, its interior was enormous even though it looked small from the outside.
To enter the pocket dimension, he used the Art of Small Within, Vast Without to shrink himself. His mass had not changed at all. He had simply become smaller. Furthermore, he could maintain this shrunken state even after leaving the pocket dimension, unless he dispelled it.
He flew out of the potworld bubble. When he landed, the rock he had previously been sitting on now appeared larger than a mountain. Standing atop it, he surveyed this "gigantic" world before eagerly beginning to explore.
He rode a spatial bubble down to the ground. Weeds that had originally reached only his ankles now towered above him.
After stepping out of the spatial bubble, he ran through the weeds. Suddenly, a praying mantis hidden among them lashed out at him with its two bladed forelegs. Yu Xian stopped with a smile and allowed the forelegs to strike him. He even prevented the Dragon Shield from defending him.
The mantis clamped its forelegs around Yu Xian. Normally, it would have pulled him toward its mouth and begun biting, but no matter how hard it tugged, he did not budge. Instead, the blade of grass supporting the mantis bent sharply under the force.
Now face-to-face with it, Yu Xian grabbed its triangular head before it could bite him and twisted it, snapping it off. Green fluid spilled from the severed neck.
As he looked at the blood, an idea occurred to him. In the future, if he encountered a supernatural creature with very little blood but desperately wanted its ability, he could simply shrink himself before drinking its blood. Wouldn't that effectively make the amount of blood much greater?
Just then, a sparrow swooped down from the sky, grabbed the headless mantis, and tried to fly off with it. However, the dead mantis's bladed forelegs were still clamped around Yu Xian. No matter how hard the sparrow flapped its wings, it could not lift off.
Yu Xian watched the sparrow struggle in amusement and suddenly felt that the world after shrinking was truly fascinating.
1. 阿赖耶识 (ā lài yé shí) or the Eight Consciousnesses is a Buddhist concept referring to a foundational “storehouse consciousness” that preserves karmic impressions and underlies individual experience. In modern fantasy fiction, it is sometimes reinterpreted as the collective consciousness or will of humanity. ☜