138 - A Portal Between Worlds

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The edge of the rock where it had broken off felt unnatural. The fault line was too straight, and Qin Yun could see something resembling chisel marks on the stone. There was no doubt someone had intended for this rock to fall.

As he pondered the implications, Qin Yun explored the summit of this mountain. Although its area was quite substantial, it was as barren as the desert below. He found nothing except the slight protrusion where the metal chain was attached.

Was I overthinking? I at least expected something like an entrance. What did they do? They can't have just simply disappeared, right?

A short moment later, Qin Yun felt something at his back. He abruptly turned while slightly on edge, yet the tension faded instantly. Before him was the young man he had followed all the way here.

“So you finally decided to join me," Qin Yun said smugly. "Weren't you in a hurry to run after them?"

“What’s the point?” the man shrugged. “You’re the one wanting to seek them out. Finding them on my own rather defeats the purpose.”

Qin Yun smiled, yet couldn’t help but be impressed by how quickly the man had climbed that vertical cliff. It took him a minute or two at most while even Qin Yun struggled. The outsiders were genuinely suited to this environment. However, something caught his attention. In the man's hand was a lump of metal.

“Can I see that?” Qin Yun asked, extending a hand.

Without a word, the man threw it his way. While the form was slightly damaged, Qin Yun recognized the object as a metal hook. It was twisted and beyond usable, with the remnants of a broken chain attached to it, but he recognized the metal it was made from.

“This type of metal can only be salvaged from the deep ocean. Where did you find this?” Qin Yun asked.

“The ocean? What's that supposed to be? I found it attached to a broken shard of the fallen stone."

Qin Yun frowned but only just realized that he had spoken that word in the common tongue, for there was no equivalent in desert people's language.

It's not surprising there's no such thing here. Still, this obviously came from somewhere. Was there an ocean here long ago? Did it dry out when the qi receded?

This hypothesis seemed valid. The fact that a river still existed between the western and southern regions proved that water travelled all this way. It wasn't unreasonable to think an ocean may have existed here at some point.

How long ago was that?

Qin Yun shook his head. There was no point thinking about that. Yet the mere existence of such an amount of Deep Sea Sunken Iron could be found so far inland was nothing short of miraculous. If this was in Jin City, it could be sold for quite an extreme amount. Even a year of the Qin Clan's budget might not be enough to afford it.

"Why a hook and chain?" Qin Yun muttered as he checked the chain lying on the summit, but sure enough, it was made of the same material.

“What’s so unbelievable? Isn’t it just a chunk of metal?”

"You really don't know?" Qin Yun asked, not masking the surprise on his face. "Although not easy to forge, this metal is hard and durable. Take that chain. It's been subjected to the harsh desert winds for who knows how long, yet there's not even a single mark on its surface. Why not make weapons out of it instead?"

“We already have weapons,” the man replied, unsheathing his bone sword.

The white bone glistened under the sun’s light, its edge sharp enough to cut the wind itself. Despite this being made of but a common sandworm’s teeth, Qin Yun couldn’t help but acknowledge this was an exceptional weapon. Still, it couldn’t compare to one made of Deep Sea Sunken Iron.

"Let me ask you, do we even possess what is needed to forge this metal?" the man asked, obviously aware of how peculiar it was.

“Water—” Qin Yun began but then stopped.

Deep Sea Sunken Iron was different compared to other metals. While most needed heat to mould them, this type of metal was forged using water currents. Over eons, it was infused with countless amounts of water qi sealed tight into its core by the insane pressure of the ocean's depths. The only way to truly forge this metal was to recreate the conditions of its creation—something utterly impossible in this dry desert. Even for the present Qin Yun, this would be an impossible task.

"Of course, they couldn't forge weapons out of it. This was probably a chain long before anyone came upon it—long before this place turned into a desert. They just used what they found. Still—" Qin Yun stopped again, looking at the break between the two pieces of broken chains.

How did it break? This chain obviously held that massive boulder right over the cliff, keeping it from falling. A trap, perhaps?

More mysteries were piling on top of each other. This had been a simple quest to find the Exiled Tribe, yet now he had found something that elicited many more questions than it gave answers.

Deep in thought, Qin Yun leaned back onto the rock protuberance located straight in the middle of the summit, like a demon's horn rising from someone's head, yet just as he collided with the hard surface, he fell backwards straight through it, almost as if it didn't exist in the first place.

“What?!” the young man exclaimed, hanging tight to his sword as he watched Qin Yun phase through the rock, disappearing from sight.

He carefully approached the rock, using the tip of his bone sword to probe it. It felt solid to the touch, not any different than any regular boulder, until he reached the area where Qin Yun had leaned on it.

The sword slipped right through as if the wall didn't even exist. He plunged the blade in up to his guard, yet felt no resistance, not even as if it was in water, but only a pure void. He could only retract his blade out of pure fright, yet it remained as pristine as it once was. There wasn't a single nick or blemish on the blade.

"An illusion?" the man muttered but added much more loudly, "Hey! Are you alright?!"

But his voice didn't seem to reach the other side. He heard no response from Qin Yun and hesitated about what to do. He slowly approached the rock wall, lending an ear to it, hoping to hear something from beyond, yet all he heard was a deafening silence and a slight breeze blowing overhead.

That was until a hand emerged.

It wrapped around the back of his neck, and then, with monstrous strength, the young man was dragged toward the wall. He tried to resist, but the sudden appearance of that hand left him off-balance. Unable to stand firm, he could only cross his arms, trying to protect his head as he plunged straight toward the wall.

However, the impact never came. In fact, he found himself falling forward. The world had become dark, which wasn't because his eyes were closed. They were very much open, yet the sun's shine seemed to have disappeared. He extended his arms just an instant before hitting the floor.

Surprisingly, while lying on the ground, what first came to mind was how damp it was. It wasn't the familiar dry sand or the hardness of the rock, but something much softer—something he had rarely seen in the desert—dirt. There was a patch of damp dirt under him. He could taste it as he had fallen straight into it.

“Nice of you to join me,” Qin Yun said as he stood over the man with a slight smile on his lips. Yet, there was something strange about him.

While it was apparent that Qin Yun was the reason for his fall, the young man hadn't seen it that way initially for one simple reason. The hand that emerged from the stone wasn't bronze-coloured like Qin Yun's hand should have been. Instead, it was much paler, like those of the Avaads.

Only when he turned to face Qin Yun, he found the reason for this discrepancy. Qin Yun had returned to his original appearance, yet there was something odd about him. While he wasn't versed in the Avaads' standard of beauty, he didn't remember Qin Yun being that handsome.

"Where are we? What happened to you?" the man said as he rose to his feet and looked around, only to find they were in an empty cave. There was barely any light reaching them, coming from one opening not far away that led outside.

"You mean this?" Qin Yun said as he exposed his pale skin for the man to see. "My guess is this has something to do with the rules governing this place. It doesn't allow for any deception. I don't know if this is limited to physical appearance or also words."

"Deception?" the man asked, frowning deeply. "You mean this is how you're supposed to look?"

However, Qin Yun merely returned a smile before walking toward the cave's back wall, where he plunged a hand straight through it. The man was stunned by the sight. Instead of creating a hole, Qin Yun's hand disappeared beyond the threshold, creating waves upon its surface, almost like he had plunged it into water.

“How do you do that?” the man asked.

"I'm not doing anything," Qin Yun shrugged, retracting his hand. "This is something of a portal separating two different dimensions. I didn't realize it initially, but some subtle spacial ripples are propagating from it. However, they are so slight that I wouldn't have found them without knowing where to look."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the man asked. "Does this lead back to where we were?"

“Exactly,” Qin Yun said with a smile. “A hidden portal between worlds.”

“Worlds? Are you sure you aren’t exaggerating? This is probably just an illusion.”

Qin Yun stopped and looked at the man, which made him slightly nervous. However, he soon began to walk out of the cave toward the light as he said, "Why not see for yourself?"

The young man followed soon after him and couldn't help but be stunned by the sight. He expected to see the familiar desert, yet what he saw couldn't have been further from his mind.

They both stood at the edge of the cave, faced with a most miraculous sight. Before them was a lush and moist jungle—so much so that the man could feel the dampness of the air on his skin. Even during the few times a year that water would fall from the sky to nourish the desert, it wasn't as humid as it was now.

“What is this?” the man asked, completely stunned.

While trees existed near the sparse oases, none were as majestic as those before him. They were thick and tall like towers rising to the sky. Unlike the familiar tree he knew, which possessed only a few leaves at their top, those were filled with foliage. They almost bloated out the sky.

Countless branches spread in all directions, creating a net over the jungle where many species of birds lay perched, looking down on them. They weren't the familiar scavengers, filled with the putrid scent of death and decay, but colourful ones whose singing rang throughout the jungle.

He almost wanted to bask in the serenity of this place yet drew his blade in one swift motion, for he felt gazes lay upon him—many, in fact. However, Qin Yun showed no signs of urgency. He merely stayed by his side, looking deep beyond the many bushes in the distance.

“Don’t act rashly,” he said softly while pressing on the young man’s arm, making him lower his weapon. “We are already surrounded.”

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