Chapter 3: The World Behind the Southern Heavenly Gate

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: The World Behind the Southern Heavenly Gate

Inside the Sect Leader’s Hall rested the coffin of the old Sect Leader, Chen Canxuan. Elegiac couplets were pasted on the surrounding pillars, and numerous white drapes hung from the beams.

Chen Sha was the only one keeping vigil before the coffin. The many Daoists on the mountain had been busy all night preparing for the funeral. Kneeling before the coffin, Chen Sha closed his eyes.

Deep within his Spirit Platform Purple Mansion, that magnificent gate—resembling purple-gold glazed glass—stood out in the void. No aura flowed around it, yet it naturally exuded a supreme majesty that separated the Immortal Realm and Mortal Realm.

Chen Sha’s consciousness manifested before the gate. "Enter," he said to himself.

With a single step taken within his mind, his physical body in the real world remained kneeling motionless. Meanwhile, his consciousness crossed the majestic Immortal Gate and appeared in another place.

Mists drifted ethereally. The faint cries of Immortal Cranes echoed from the deep marshes above. He couldn’t see his surroundings clearly, only vaguely sensing that the world behind the gate contained countless fragments, much like a starry sky.

Chen Sha had arrived in the world behind the Southern Heavenly Gate.

"First Heaven."

The moment he appeared, the name of this place seamlessly surfaced in his mind.

"After passing the Southern Heavenly Gate, it’s the First Heaven..." Chen Sha thought. It was no longer his first time entering the world behind the gate. He followed the path beneath his feet, soon arriving at an Earth God Temple ahead. Everything else around him was veiled in white Immortal Qi; only the path leading to this Earth God Temple lay open. This was exactly where he had stopped last time.

The Earth God Temple was quite simple, built with mud walls and tiles. Inside sat a clay statue of a middle-aged man. Upon laying eyes on it, text once again appeared in Chen Sha’s mind, introducing the statue’s identity:

"Hong Qi, ascended to the Immortal Realm at the end of the Ninth Tribulation. Granted an Immortal Mud Body to preserve his life from corruption."

This information was synchronized to him by the Southern Heavenly Gate within his body. Chen Sha cast an awe-filled glance at the clay statue. Based on the mental description, the person represented by the statue seemed to still be alive. He wasn’t exactly sure what the end of the Ninth Tribulation meant. Could it be related to the Middle Antiquity, High Antiquity, or Primordial eras recorded in the ancient texts of the Dao Yi Sect?

WHOOSH.

Just as Chen Sha gazed at the statue, words appeared in his mind once more:

"The Sect Leader still has an uncompleted Archive Fragment. Do you wish to continue experiencing Chapter One: Hong Qi, Section One: Forest Martial Arts Transmission, The Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets?"

"Continue," Chen Sha thought.

In an instant, he felt as if he were traversing through space and time. In his field of vision, a scene of a forest, blue sky, and earth rapidly approached from afar. A moment later, his vision cleared. He was surrounded by a Cypress Forest, with blue skies, green grass, and a fragrant scent lingering in the air. He was now fully immersed within the world of the Cosmic Light Fragments.

"The Sect Leader has arrived at Chapter One: Hong Qigong, Section One: Forest Martial Arts Transmission, The Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets. This section uses Hong Qigong from the end of the Ninth Tribulation as a space-time anchor to derive a Cosmic Light Fragment of a specific period in his life.

"The scene for this Chapter is—Cypress Forest.

"The characters appearing in this Chapter are—Hong Qigong, Guo Jing, and Huang Rong.

"The Sect Leader must defeat all characters present in this Chapter to proceed to the next Chapter, ’Three Extremes Meet at Peach Blossom Island’."

These words flashed in Chen Sha’s mind, identical to the hundreds of times he had visited before.

As expected. He had no idea what this Southern Heavenly Gate actually was, but its method of helping him improve was akin to running a dungeon in a video game.

"The person in the first Earth God Temple of the First Heaven is Hong Qigong, but the Southern Heavenly Gate recorded that he’s a person from the end of the Ninth Tribulation. These Cosmic Light Fragments are derived from the experiences of his life," Chen Sha thought. "I wonder if these Cosmic Light Fragments are artificially generated, or if the boundless world naturally contains infinite possibilities, relying on a certain truth to evolve into countless alternative stories."

He shook his head. "Why am I even thinking about this? It’s too far beyond me right now."

The surrounding flora emitted a refreshing fragrance, especially the pine and cypress trees, which gave off a deeply invigorating scent. Even though Chen Sha was only here in consciousness, it felt as though he had brought his physical body along. Everything he saw, smelled, and heard was as real as the outside world.

Having visited this Chapter hundreds of times, he knew the way by heart. He leaped forward, utilizing the Dao Yi Sect’s Body Technique. In less time than it takes to drink half a cup of tea, he heard the sounds of "BAM, BAM, BAM" echoing through the forest.

"You silly boy, this move is called ’The Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets.’ You can’t just aim for fierce and ruthless power. If it were such a superficial martial art, anyone with brute strength could master it. The key isn’t the arrogance, but the regret..."

Along with the heavy thuds of palms striking trees, the voice of a middle-aged man smacked his lips, teaching while eating.

"Jing, did you hear what Qigong said?" a girl with a voice as sweet as an oriole chimed in. "Take your time teaching him, Qigong. I’ll go prepare dinner for you two."

Hong Qigong’s appetite was thoroughly piqued. "No repeating dishes..." he said happily.

Before he could finish, his expression darkened. He turned toward a specific direction and barked, "What scoundrel dares to steal our martial arts?"

With his shout, his vigorous True Qi vibrated through the air like a roaring dragon and a howling tiger. Rolling sound waves struck directly at that spot. Raising a hand, he launched the opening stance of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms without a moment’s hesitation.

In an instant, dust plumed into the air within the pine forest. The cypress trees within a radius of dozens of feet swayed wildly under the sheer momentum.

Seeing Hong Qigong’s palm thrusting toward his face—its Palm Wind descending like a Dragon Claw that seemed to crush the very air—Chen Sha’s eyes flickered.

"A Grandmaster’s Momentum!" Chen Sha thought. "To become a Grandmaster, one must forge their own Momentum to condense True Qi!"

Although the original owner of this body hadn’t been as talented as the fifth disciple, Li Jianzhou, he was still ranked second among the six disciples. Because of this, he had long reached the peak of a First-class Expert.

Moreover, having witnessed the sheer momentum of Hong Qigong’s palm hundreds of times over the past seven days, Chen Sha wasn’t panicked in the slightest. He abruptly raised his hand, his sleeves billowing. Circulating the Dao Yi Sect’s Great Yellow Court technique, he splayed his five fingers and met the strike with a palm of his own!

The next second, their palms collided, generating muffled booms in the air like beaten drums.

Chen Sha’s body swayed as he coughed up half a mouthful of blood. However, he smoothly spun with the momentum, unleashing a move from the Great Yellow Court—All Gods Return to the Sect! He thrust his palm forward. It was as if every muscle and acupoint in his body converged toward his Central Yellow Court before erupting outward in a single explosive strike!

"Good Palm Technique!" Hong Qigong roared upon seeing this. "You possess such exquisite martial arts yourself, yet you still sneak around to steal from others? That makes it even more despicable!"

With that, the True Qi in his entire body surged violently. He unleashed palm after palm, each faster and fiercer than the last—as if he hadn’t just been teaching Guo Jing about "regret."

Under the relentless flurry of palm strikes...

ROAR!

The very air currents in the forest seemed to mimic a dragon’s cry, infused with overwhelming masculine energy!

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Chen Sha and Hong Qigong exchanged over a hundred moves in quick succession. Ultimately, Chen Sha took a direct palm strike and dissipated on the spot.

"The Sect Leader has failed the challenge and temporarily cannot clear this stage. Please try again next time."

Inside the Sect Leader’s Hall.

Chen Canxuan’s coffin remained resting in its place.

Chen Sha slowly opened his eyes and glanced up at the candle on the altar table. It had burned down by an amount equivalent to merely a single breath. Despite him fighting for half an hour within the Cosmic Light Fragments behind the Southern Heavenly Gate, time in the real world seemed to have not passed at all.

"One day in heaven is a thousand years on earth."

Chen Sha recalled another, reverse interpretation of this saying.

"Time in heaven barely moves at all; it is eternal. Therefore, a thousand years can pass in the Mortal Realm, while only a single day passes in heaven."

If the space behind the Southern Heavenly Gate was truly the legendary Immortal Realm, then perhaps this could explain the discrepancy in the flow of time. This was exactly why, in just seven days, Chen Sha had managed to spar with Hong Qigong hundreds of times inside the Cosmic Light Fragments.

Chen Sha briefly regulated his breathing to recover his mental energy. "This method, similar to practicing martial arts in a dream, places almost no toll on the physical body. It only drains mental energy," he thought.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Chen Sha closed his eyes once again.

Inside the Cosmic Light Fragments.

Everything had reset to its original state.

In the forest, Guo Jing was still striking a tree with palm after palm, practicing his only move—The Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets.

Suddenly, Chen Sha approached from afar.

Guo Jing stared blankly at him before saying, "How can you secretly watch someone else practice martial arts?"

Chen Sha remained silent. He took a few steps forward and launched a palm strike.

BAM!

Guo Jing met Chen Sha’s attack with his own palm, but with a loud thump, he was sent flying backward.

BOOM!

Hearing the commotion, Hong Qigong rushed over and appeared once again. "What scoundrel?!" he bellowed furiously.

BOOM!

He thrust out a palm, bringing with it destructive power akin to a roaring dragon and howling tiger...

Another half hour passed inside the Cosmic Light Fragments. After over a hundred exchanges, Chen Sha was struck by a palm, and his consciousness vanished from the fragment. This time, he had managed to exchange a dozen more moves than before.

Returning to reality, Chen Sha closed his eyes and regulated his mental energy. Half a cup of tea later, he reappeared in the Cypress Forest.

...BAM...

An hour later...

He reappeared...

Then he entered once more...

BAM, BAM, BAM...

Just like that, he was able to restart his run every dozen breaths or so in the real world. Meanwhile, Hong Qigong, Guo Jing, and the others seemed to endlessly repeat their "martial arts lesson" within the Cosmic Light Fragments. It perfectly aligned with the fact that this was merely an "extracted" Cosmic Light Fragment.

Thus, behind the gate within his consciousness, Chen Sha began to endlessly spar and battle against one of the Five Extremes Grandmasters from the Legend of the Condor Heroes...

Once!

Ten times!

A hundred times!

A thousand times!

He already belonged to the Dao Yi Sect, the number one Major Sect in the world. Having previously received Chen Canxuan’s meticulous teachings, he had reached the absolute pinnacle of a First-class Expert. Including the past seven days, he had no idea how many times he had crossed hands with Hong Qigong by now...

He was using this genuine Five Extremes Grandmaster as a sparring partner to "feed him moves." A few dozen consecutive matches might not amount to much, but after hundreds or even thousands of consecutive bouts...

Not only had his consciousness gained a clear understanding and perception of the Grandmaster realm, but his physical body had also begun to undergo subtle changes.

Just like this, he continued his dream-like martial arts training while sitting vigil in the mourning hall.

Seven days passed on Dao Yi Mountain.

The day to bury the dead had finally arrived.