Chapter 701: Beyond the Elders’ Reach

Chapter 701: Beyond the Elders’ Reach

The gateway opened on a wet morning, and Elder Shan could not enter it.

Leon watched from beside the repaired terraces as Shan approached the inner threshold. Pale light filled the opening that had remained sealed throughout their earlier ordeal. Rain ran down the stone above it and dripped onto Shan’s shoulder.

He stepped forward, stopped, and looked back at Ruan.

"The same response," she said, checking her instruments.

Shan concealed his cultivation and tried again. The threshold remained closed to him, though the light beyond it continued moving. Ruan added her concealment array for the final test, with no better result.

Then Ji approached.

She rested her hand against the boundary, waited, and withdrew it.

"Enough," she said. "Nobody applies force."

The true Grotto-Heaven had become accessible at the three-month mark from Ruan’s initial assessment. Its entrance complex still admitted everyone standing there. Beyond the inner threshold, however, the newly opened realm refused the strongest people in the gathering.

Leon looked from his master to the waiting disciples.

He had known this might happen. Seeing Ji step aside made it feel rather different.

The eligible personnel waited while Ruan completed the nonliving tests.

Probes crossed and returned without damage. A weighted marker came back on its retrieval line, followed by a recording plaque showing pale stone under steady light. Ruan compared each result against the measurements she had taken before the opening.

Only when she was satisfied did two Golden Core scouts approach.

They crossed with instructions to remain close to the gate. One returned almost immediately; the other stayed within sight of the boundary to test the communication link.

His voice emerged clearly from Ruan’s plaque.

"Solid ground. No immediate movement. Returning to the marker now."

They repeated the exchange at different distances. Ruan sent an instruction the scout could not have anticipated, received his reply, and had him bring the recording back for comparison.

An eligible Foundation Establishment disciple completed the same short crossing afterward.

"Golden Core and below," Ruan confirmed. "The threshold responds to the cultivation structure. Concealing the aura doesn’t change what it admits."

Leon studied the quiet opening. His native foundation was well below the limit, and the older foundation that produced his public reading was still within it. Nothing in the tests suggested the gate cared how much damage a person could cause after crossing.

Seraphine waited beside the others with her sword wrapped. He caught her looking toward the light, then toward the scouts’ recording equipment.

She wanted to see it too.

Ji called the expedition together beneath the shelter at the foot of the terraces.

"The elders remain outside," she said. "We hold the complex and the basin perimeter. Inside, Leon commands the gathering team."

The disciples turned toward him. Among them were the two who had asked about carrying supplies through distorted terrain. One inclined his head without surprise.

"He knows this entrance and has already brought our people safely out of it," Ji continued. "He also has my authority to stop the expedition. If he orders a return, you return."

Leon stepped forward as she indicated the preliminary sketch.

The scouts had verified only a small area around the inner gate. Their marks showed where the level ground extended and where the first uncertain edge began. Most of the page remained blank.

"We establish our return point here," he said. "The recorders stay with the supplies until the immediate surroundings are checked. Nobody begins collecting because something looks close."

A disciple carrying extraction cases raised a hand.

"Do you want samples from the foothold itself, Senior Brother?"

"After Ruan confirms removing them won’t affect the entrance. Mark anything interesting first."

The disciple nodded and wrote it down.

Ji let Leon finish assigning the initial work before drawing him aside.

"The link works across the open gateway," she said. "That does not tell us how far it will carry inside. Check it as you move. If it fails, return to the last position where it worked."

Leon nodded. He remembered the useless plaques in the overlapping layers well enough.

"And if the route changes?" he asked.

"You stop advancing. We will monitor the entrance from here, but I cannot promise help somewhere I cannot reach." She lowered her voice. "You understand why I’m making this clear?"

"Because being able to fight doesn’t mean I can’t get lost."

"Among other things." Her gaze moved briefly toward his household. "Keep them close until you know what you’re standing in."

"I intend to."

She straightened the edge of his outer robe where the rain had folded it against his shoulder, then seemed to notice the gesture and dropped her hand.

"Bring back your measurements, disciple. The treasures can follow."

Leon smiled. "I’d prefer both."

"Then make sensible choices."

He checked the communication plaque at the threshold himself before entering. Seraphine stood ready behind him, with Ira, Vyra, and Loriel waiting beside the first group of Palace personnel.

"The initial markers only," Leon reminded them.

Vyra checked the supply list once more and tucked it away. "Ready, Young Master."

He stepped through.

The rain stopped touching his face.

Dry air brushed his wet sleeves, carrying a faint mineral smell. His boots settled on pale stone, and for a moment he simply enjoyed ground that remained where it appeared to be.

Then he looked up.

The sky extended far beyond anything he had expected from the entrance complex. Thin cloud hung above a distant ridge, lit from within by slow violet flickers. His lightning affinity stirred at the charge in the air, though he kept his circulation at its ordinary pace.

He stood on a broad shelf with the gateway behind him. The scouts’ markers outlined the checked ground near its center. Farther out, the stone ended in a drop that exposed other stretches of terrain at different heights.

Leon followed one ridge with his eyes and lost track of where it joined the next. A dark interval separated them, yet trees on either side seemed almost close enough to touch.

He sent his perception cautiously toward the nearer edge. The distance refused to settle into a measurement he trusted.

Seraphine emerged beside him and went still.

Across the first gap stood pale mineral spires streaked with violet. Light gathered along their edges whenever the distant clouds brightened.

"Young Master," she said quietly. "Look at the growth along those fractures."

He remembered the dawnspar she had cut from the sea stack.

"The same material?"

"It looks like it. I’d need to examine it." She followed the line of spires across the terrace. "There could be a whole bed."

Ira came through next and looked from the marked ground to the distant crystals.

"Four hundred paces?" she asked.

"By eye," Vyra said, joining them. "We’ll measure before we rely on it."

Loriel paused beside a small growth near the foothold’s edge, keeping within the scouts’ markers.

"These are healthy," she said. "With all that lightning in the air, I’d expected more signs of stress." She looked toward the distant trees. "I’d like to see what grows farther in." ℯ

So would Leon. He wanted the minerals, the plants, and a chance to understand how this place sustained them together.

Behind him, the recorders began setting down their cases. He confirmed their arrival to Ruan, then looked back across the gap.

The crystal terrace had seemed directly ahead when he entered. Now the same violet spires appeared slightly to his right, though the foothold beneath his boots had not moved.

Leon raised a hand before anyone approached the edge.

"Mark that position," he told Vyra. "Let’s find out whether the route moved with it."