Chapter 239: The Shadow of the Fate Weaving Sovereign

— Vermilion Bird Province Border - Emerald River —

Amidst the bamboo forest, where the creaking sound of swaying bamboo drifted through the air, a small abode sat within a modest clearing. There was a small vegetable patch filled with fresh green produce and a chicken coop nearby.

A small well stood at the center of this humble homestead, serving as the heart of the little farm. Chickens scratched and pecked at the ground, searching for food.

Xiong Potian, the Old Bear, walked out of his abode. The doorway seemed a little too small to accommodate his height and muscular frame, forcing him to lower his head as he stepped outside.

Bob was taking care of the chickens, feeding them grain and the leftover vegetables from the barbecue feast. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Hello, Master. It’s nice weather today, isn’t it?" Bob greeted his master with his usual good-natured smile while scattering chicken feed with one hand.

"Hahahaha!" Xiong Potian laughed loudly. His laughter sounded more like a beast’s roar and should have frightened the chickens, but they all seemed accustomed to it.

Moreover, the chickens appeared to have mutated. Their muscles were more developed, and they were nearly three times larger than ordinary chickens.

"Yeah! The weather is nice. I only hope it doesn’t rain blood later today." Xiong Potian said with a fierce smile.

"Yes, Master." Bob agreed. "I hope so too." He let out a wry smile.

"It seems the Underworld Palace is about to find whatever they’re looking for, huh?" he asked his disciple.

"They said it’s a World Portal, Master. From what I know, it’s connected to my previous world, and they want to seal it or make sure no one can make use of it." Bob explained.

"Yeah, whatever. I believe you, though. But those idiots observing the situation from afar? Are they going to believe it?" Xiong Potian said with a knowing smile mixed with fierce anticipation for battle.

Bob’s eyebrow twitched.

"Master, I don’t think anyone would dare cause trouble. After all, the Underworld Palace is a Hidden Ancient Clan, and a powerful one at that. If they thought about it, they would know it’s futile to meddle in the Underworld Palace’s affairs."

But then Bob froze.

Come to think of it, Zodiac had been exactly that kind of idiot. They gambled on a small chance to get their hands on the prize they desired.

They gambled on the assumption that Mo Xingyao had not yet married into the Underworld Palace, and they also believed that since Wei Chen was absent from the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, they still had a chance.

"Oh God... don’t tell me they all have the mentality of gamblers." Bob muttered under his breath.

In his previous world, before he crossed over, he had heard of plantation owners who gambled away their wealth and legacies. In this world as well, he had heard of many people who suffered the same fate as gambling addicts.

"Hahahaha! That’s right, boy! Those fools are all gambling addicts! Especially now that the rumors are becoming crazier every day. Some people even think we’re searching for the entrance to the Primordial Secret Realm!" the Old Bear said from experience.

"So, shall we go see how many fools will die today?" Old Bear asked, his eyes suddenly growing fierce.

He had been beaten by a girl and still hadn’t found anyone to vent his frustration on. He had tried fighting Wei Chen before, only to get slapped senseless and wake up in the evening, nearly when the party had already ended. If his disciple hadn’t saved some barbecue for him, he wouldn’t have even gotten the chance to taste it.

As for fighting the girl who had beaten him?

No thanks.

He loved fighting, but he did not love getting beaten. Fighting that girl or Wei Chen was no different from asking for a beating.

So, he needed someone strong enough to give him a good fight from among those fools.

Then he paused.

"Hey, lad... do you think a few of my chickens are missing?" the Old Bear asked as he looked at the dozen or so chickens in the coop.

He could have sworn there used to be more of them.

—

At the campground, the area had already been transformed into an on-site command center and surveying camp. People from the Underworld moved to and fro between their stations. Some were transporting supplies, while others had just returned from survey duty and were heading to the barracks tents for some rest.

Inside Wei Chen’s personal tent, three familiar faces were playing Monopoly with one another.

The first was the little troublemaker Ningning. The second was Yin Lan, the bodyguard whose philosophy was punch first, never ask questions. The third was Mo Xingyao, who was taking the opportunity to enjoy a small vacation and familiarize herself with the Underworld Palace under the excuse of studying her future husband’s home before marrying into the family.

"Ahhhh! Hahahaha! Pay me now, Sister Lan! You landed on my property!" Mo Xingyao laughed out loud as she held out her hand for the money.

"I... I don’t have any money, Young Miss..." Yin Lan’s head drooped in depression as she looked at her empty hands.

"Then mortgage your house! Sell it to the bank! Anything, do it and pay me!" Mo Xingyao raised her voice.

"Ugh... yes, Young Miss..."

"Wahahahahaha!"

While the young lady and her bodyguard were having fun, the little troublemaker was also having the time of her life, happily eating Korean-style fried chicken.

Wei Chen looked at the little troublemaker Ningning. The chicken meat was top-tier, and its quality surpassed anything he had ever seen. It was packed with meat, while the tenderness had reached an almost absurd level.

With a bit of cooking skill on his part, he had transformed those giant chickens, each nearly three times larger than a normal one, into Korean-style fried chicken.

He didn’t know where this little troublemaker had caught the chickens, but he planned to ask her after she had her fill of the fried chicken.

While Wei Chen was wondering where little Ningning had caught those chickens, inside the largest command tent, Youqi was watching several monitors that displayed the status of the perimeter and the underwater survey.

At the moment, Lian Cheng’s artifact, the mechanized spirit fish, were surveying every inch of the riverbed. Numerous monitors displayed readings of spiritual energy fluctuations beneath the water.

Inside this tent, besides Youqi, there were others helping monitor the situation. One of them was Lian Cheng, who was meticulously controlling his many mechanized fish as they inspected the riverbed.

"Lady Youqi, we’ve found something. Please... look at this monitor." Lian Cheng said as he guided the mechanized fish toward the location indicated by the spiritual fluctuation monitor.

On the monitor, a hole in space appeared as though someone had punctured reality with a giant needle. The opening measured roughly five by four square meters.

"Finally, we’ve found it. Now we only need to seal it." Youqi said with a smile. Her husband’s mission was about to be completed.

"Lady Youqi..." Lian Cheng began, his voice solemn. "I’m afraid sealing it won’t be as easy as we thought."

"Why? Is it because of those fools observing us and thinking this is the entrance to a secret realm?" Youqi asked in an amused tone.

"No, Lady Youqi. I don’t mean those fools. It’s because of this reading." Lian Cheng said as he displayed a strange set of data gathered from the spatial hole.

He had learned a great deal in the Underworld. Many advanced artifact-making techniques had been bestowed upon him by the Lord of Death, and the concept of scientific thinking had allowed him to advance even further on the path of artifact creation.

As a result, all of these instruments were products of his understanding, although most of the equipment itself had been brought from the Underworld.

The graph displaying these spatial fluctuation readings was also one of the things he had learned there.

Youqi looked at the graph and slowly narrowed her eyes.

The spatial fluctuation readings were stable, but the boundary of the portal was... expanding.

It was growing wider with the passage of time.

The rate was slow, yes, but the portal was steadily increasing in size. At this pace, in roughly five hundred years, the portal would emerge above the river’s surface.

"Can we stop the growth of this portal?" she asked.

"I’m sorry, Lady Youqi, but with my current understanding, I don’t have a solution." Lian Cheng shook his head.

"But..."

The moment Lian Cheng said that, Youqi’s attention sharpened.

"I’m seventy percent certain that this World’s Portal is man-made. Someone deliberately created this portal. Based on the readings, a powerful spatial fluctuation was pushed from this side to the other side, and the remaining energy sealed the portal entrance to prevent anything from this side from crossing over." Lian Cheng paused.

"This doesn’t make any sense. If someone created this portal from our side, why would they prevent travel from this side to the other side?" Youqi muttered.

"It may be because the person who created this portal feared that someone would discover it. So they sealed the flow from this side, but not completely. That’s why unlucky people from the other side may occasionally end up here." Lian Cheng offered his opinion before continuing.

"There aren’t many people capable of doing something like this, but I can think of one person who has both the ability and the motive." said Lian Cheng.

"Who?" asked Youqi.

"My nemesis, Lady Youqi. The Fate Weaving Sovereign."