Volume One, Chapter Eighty-Eight: To the Three Enclosures of the North Pole

The Eternal Lord assigned Hu Lu Zhi Na to supervise the construction of a massive teleportation array. This was an array meant to span an entire starfield, and not the slightest carelessness could be allowed. Even the Master of Wonders himself took action, personally inscribing the array patterns and carving the sacred crystals.

Hu Lu Zhi Na was sent as a gesture of goodwill toward Tu Zhe: the past was past, and now they would look toward the future.

Just look at Hu Lu Zhi Na’s attitude. Hadn’t he turned over a new leaf and begun anew? Young people, after all, all have moments of impulse. Besides, think of it this way: he is your younger uncle. Must you really keep holding a grudge against a junior?

How could Tu Zhe fail to see the old emperor’s little schemes?

Afraid? Ha. For the moment, there was no chance to play any tricks.

Fine, then. I’ll accept your good will.

And so everything remained peaceful and harmonious, calm and content.

When the old emperor learned that the twenty-three great sages of the Naga clan had become Tu Zhe’s demonic dragon guard, he praised them repeatedly on the surface, yet before he had even turned around his jaw was already swollen with rage.

Damn it all. So I’m just here to help the crown prince study, while all the benefits go to you alone?

Though he no longer feared those great sages betraying his secrets, this was still infuriating beyond measure. You drag out such a huge bunch of great sages for me to see—what does that mean? Are you mocking me? Didn’t you say you were looking for someone to intercept and assassinate me? Well, look: the people who were supposed to assassinate me are now protecting me.

Was there ever anything more nauseating than this?

Back at the palace of the Heavenly King, the old emperor was still stewing when Qu Bo Jia came to call on him.

Among his ten sons, Qu Bo Jia was in truth superior to the other nine in both intelligence and depth. Yet the old emperor simply did not care for him. He always felt the boy had a strange, neither-male-nor-female air about him, and found him somehow displeasing to the eye.

Qu Bo Jia saluted him and said slowly, “Father, I am leaving Mount Sumeru.”

“Hm?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I intend to follow the footsteps of the Awakened One and go in search of him. I will return in ten years.”

A loud drum needs no heavy blow. The old emperor naturally understood what his second son meant.

Damn it. So he’s bottling up some resentment and wants to seek out the Awakened One to practice some peerless art or other.

But do you even know where the Awakened One is?

You might search for hundreds of years and still never find him.

Qu Bo Jia answered calmly, “No matter how long it takes, or how hard the road, I must go. I have sincerity in my heart, and I believe the Awakened One can hear my call.”

The old emperor could not help feeling a little moved. When would the eighth son ever have such spirit?

“When do you leave?”

“Now.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

So Qu Bo Jia set out alone and silently upon the road to find the Awakened One. What kind of man would he be when they met again in the future? Even the old emperor found himself rather looking forward to it.

During the days while they waited for the teleportation array to be completed, Tu Zhe’s family rejoiced to their hearts’ content.

Hu Lu Zhi Na had changed entirely from his usual self, trailing after Tu Zhe before and behind with fawning eagerness, calling him “little uncle” at every turn. It made Tu Zhe’s skin crawl, but one does not strike a smiling face.

Let him follow, then. Did he think I hadn’t noticed that flash of malice in his eyes?

Ha. Still too green, boy.

For the past few days, Yue Yi had run to Jin Mu’s home at first light each morning, and the old emperor no longer mocked her as before, as if he were helpless against her. Yue Yi had no patience to guess his thoughts anyway. “I’m going to my brother’s house. What business is that of yours?”

In those days, Tu Zhe spent himself in cheerful revelry with his family, and with hearty enjoyment sang many folk songs of the northern plateau. In particular, the song known as “The Little Ridge” was sung with such passion that it stirred the heart and lingered for days, leaving even Doggie with stars in his eyes, and making Yue Yi’s mind all the more unsettled.

On that little ridge by the riverbank,
Who is that one?
Why, that is our famous little sister Na.

You stand on your little ridge, brother, while I am in the valley.
If you see the sister of your brother, wave your hand.

...

And Yue Yi could not help wondering: who is whose younger brother, who is whose elder sister, who is whose elder brother, who is whose younger sister?

At last, the teleportation array was completed. Holding Doggie in his arms, Tu Zhe led Little Thunder, the Three Demonesses, and the demonic dragon guard, escorted by the Jin Mu brothers and the Shudra Yaksha guard, to stand before the array.

It was time to leave.

Was the sky of the Arctic lofty?

The teleportation array Tu Zhe was about to use was the sort of thing that made one’s teeth ache.

This universe contained three thousand great-thousand worlds, countless medium-thousand worlds, and immeasurable small-thousand worlds.

In comparison, the three realms of the Buddhist heavens were nothing more than dust within the great-thousand worlds. From the three realms of Buddhism to the three realms of Daoism, it seemed unimaginably distant—but against the boundless scale of a great-thousand world, just how far could it truly be?

It was said that the Awakened One had traveled through countless great-thousand worlds, and had told us that beyond this, to the west and across one hundred thousand billion Buddhist lands, lay the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

How vast is a single Buddhist land? Some experts say one great-thousand world makes one Buddhist land; others say one medium-thousand world makes one Buddhist land. Even if it were only a medium-thousand world, what sort of concept is one hundred thousand billion?

If one were to go to the Land of Ultimate Bliss without proper means of travel, even if one lived a million years, could one be sure of reaching it?

Thus the wormhole, the passage connecting the great worlds, was discovered. By using such a wormhole, one could in an instant reach another great world linked to this one.

But the problem is: how many wormholes are there in this universe? It is said that only a little over one hundred thousand have been theoretically confirmed.

Even if all the theoretically confirmed wormholes truly existed, they are scattered through immeasurable worlds. Are you certain that among the three realms of the heavens there would just happen to be one for you?

One hundred thousand may sound like a lot, but across the countless realms of the three heavens, most have only heard of wormholes in stories. Who has ever seen one? Not to mention a small-thousand world; even in a great-thousand world, whether you can get one depends on heaven-defying luck.

So in general, when traveling from one small world to another, the only means of transport available is a long-distance teleportation array.

Such an array must be constructed at the border where it meets another thousand-world realm, at great expense of sacred crystals. One must inscribe the array patterns, imprint the marks of the Way, and traverse by using the rules permitted by heaven and earth. Even so, a teleportation array connecting two small worlds could still be described as heaven-defying.

Just think: in Tu Zhe’s previous life, how long would spaceflight technology have needed for a spacecraft to leave the solar system? And this teleportation array solved the matter in mere minutes.

The Four Heavenly Kings Heaven and the Heaven of the Thirty-Three belong to the realm that touches the earth.

As the first heaven of this small world, the Four Heavenly Kings Heaven borders the first layer of the Daoist three heavens, the Great Pure Yellow Heaven. That border lay across who knew how many billions of yojanas; in Tu Zhe’s previous life, one would have measured it in light-years.

By Tu Zhe’s present level, his divine sense could cover a span of one hundred thousand yojanas, with a straight-line reach of more than ten million kilometers. It sounded fearsome enough, but with so little divine sense, trying to probe the Great Pure Yellow Heaven would be a joke. Even if he worked himself to death, he could not do it.

Thus, his supernatural powers were still far from complete. Tu Zhe still had to strive.

The teleportation array was built atop a high peak in the Four Heavenly Kings Heaven, with the foundation entirely of saint-grade sacred crystals and powered by emperor-grade sacred crystals. Just one use of it would not bankrupt either the Four Heavenly Kings Heaven or the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, but the cost was still enormous.

Even so, both the Four Heavenly Kings and the old emperor were using this to declare their position: the future is what matters, yes?

What of the past... what of the past? Ha. The past was nothing at all, was it not?