Chapter 168 - One Hundred and Sixty-Eight: Merging with the Infinite Narrative World

Chapter 168: Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Eight: Merging with the Infinite Narrative World

Volume Two: The Devil Must Pass Through Hell

[After Several Hours of Walking]

It was the middle of the afternoon.

The sun had begun tilting toward the horizon, while light clouds drifted across the sky.

The group had finally reached their first city.

The city was surrounded by red-brick walls decorated with golden phoenix patterns.

Atop the walls stood several defensive structures built in a traditional vertical conical style.

The city entrance was framed by enormous black borders with no gates, and three guards stood before it.

The first and second were responsible for protection.

The third was responsible for checking entry-permit talismans.

The moment the group approached, Scarlet King noticed this.

He took five talismans and several other items out of the Sealed World.

He placed the other items inside his space-time ring, then handed the talismans to the rest of the group.

"They’re checking entry talismans, so don’t get nervous."

"Just hand them over and let them inspect them quickly."

"They’re wooden talismans. There’s no aura or any other ridiculous thing attached to them, so don’t worry."

"We won’t be exposed."

The talismans were made of wood, golden in the center with red edges.

Feather-shaped decorations extended from both the upper and lower ends.

The group stepped forward, but one of the guards immediately stopped them.

"Hey, stop."

"Show me your Level-Six entry talismans."

Surprise appeared on Scarlet King’s face beneath the black cloth covering it.

They had returned to their natural appearances two hours earlier.

He began thinking.

(A Level-Six talisman? What?)

(Does the Second Dimension now use talismans to measure a person’s level of authority?)

(Strange.)

(Only a few hundred years have passed since my last death, yet the world has changed this quickly.)

(But that makes sense.)

(You don’t stop for the world, and the world doesn’t stop for you.)

Scarlet King took out the talisman and handed it over.

"Here’s the talisman, Big Brother."

The guard, who wore crimson armor, examined it.

"Hmm... a Merchant Talisman?"

Liu Zai Hang quickly replied:

"We’re new merchants. We only received our talismans recently."

"We came here from our original city to conduct business."

The guard gave him a sideways glance.

"Business?"

"But I don’t see any goods with you."

Wei Xia Mo immediately replied:

"Well, Sir Guard, not every traveling merchant brings an entire caravan with him."

"He might simply carry his goods inside a space-time ring."

The second guard replied:

"Fine, but we’ll need to inspect the ring before allowing you inside."

Scarlet King tossed something toward the guard.

The guard caught it.

It was a ring.

He began examining its contents.

There was wood.

Pottery.

Weapons.

Supplies.

Food.

And various other items.

The guard’s suspicion faded.

He returned the ring to Scarlet King.

"Alright."

"You may enter the Tenth Capital of the Ancient Phoenix Empire."

The group entered the capital.

It was overwhelmingly enormous.

They entered through the beginning of the capital’s marketplace, which consisted of a long road branching in three directions.

Right.

Left.

And straight ahead.

Approximately every six stores, another road branched off in a different direction.

Some merchants were shouting:

"Buy now!"

"Bone Refinement weapons of Primitive quality by Second-Dimension standards!"

Another merchant shouted:

"Rare pottery!"

"Rare household goods!"

"Guaranteed to impress your wife!"

One customer replied:

"But I’m not married."

The merchant immediately shouted:

"Buy! Buy!"

"Then impress your mother, your wife, your sister, or whoever else!"

"Beautiful pottery to decorate your home!"

"Hurry! Hurry!"

From the other side, another merchant shouted:

"Spiritual pills! Spiritual pills!"

"Spiritual herbs!"

"The finest varieties and forms!"

Ikalat contacted Scarlet King spiritually.

(Man, we need to rent the first room we find in any inn, even if the place is a garbage dump.)

(And we need to learn everything about the Second Dimension.)

(Even I wasn’t taught much about the Mortal Dimensions while I was in the Eternal Dimensions.)

(But I can sense some extremely powerful auras here.)

(Some of them are even at the Soul Realm!)

Lin Yuan joined the communication.

(I hope we find one of those omniscient old beggars who somehow knows everything about the world.)

As they walked, Liu Zai Hang contacted Scarlet King.

(How did you get these talismans?)

Scarlet King replied while noticing an elderly beggar nearby.

(Well, when the merchants gave us that bag of Primordial Stones, these talismans were inside it too.)

(Apparently, they kept them there so they wouldn’t lose them.)

(And now we have them.)

(That’s good, because it’ll delay the merchants from reporting us.)

Scarlet King moved toward the old beggar and stopped in front of him.

"Old man."

"Three Red Primordial Stones in exchange for explaining everything about the Second Dimension to us."

"We live in a remote and isolated village, so we don’t know much about this place."

The beggar looked at him.

"Boy, you found the right person."

The man began speaking.

"First, what exactly do you want me to explain?"

Scarlet King tossed him the stones.

The man caught them quickly.

"I want information about the Phoenix Empire and the major powers within the Dimension."

"And also the nearest inn."

Scarlet King thought:

(There must have been enormous changes.)

(Time flows differently in every Dimension.)

The old beggar, whose features were loose and wrinkled, began explaining.

"First, the Ancient Phoenix Empire appeared more than twenty-two thousand years ago."

"Alongside it emerged the Seven Royal Powers, together with the Phoenix Imperial Family."

"The first is the Rainy Sky Tower, which specializes in herbs and pills."

"Then the Poison Dao Temple, specializing in poisons and medicine."

"The Ancient Evil Sect, a demonic sect specializing in sorcery and demonic cultivation methods."

"The Sword Clan, which specializes in direct combat."

"Then comes the Jian Long Commercial Pavilion, the largest center of trade."

"The Soul Clan, which specializes in formations and construction."

"And then the Imperial Gate Family."

"It is overwhelmingly the strongest among the Seven Royal Powers."

"It leads all the other families and is considered the strongest force among them."

"It even rivals the Imperial Family itself, which possesses the power of the Phoenix and the protection of the Phoenix Spirit."

"After that comes the Feng Imperial Family."

"Each power inherits one capital out of the eleven capitals."

"Seven capitals are ruled by the Seven Royal Powers."

"The First Capital is ruled by the Imperial Family."

"Then there are three shared capitals open to everyone."

"The capital we’re currently in is one of them."

"There are also the Six Pillars."

"They belong specifically to the Imperial Family and are considered an enormous power on their own."

"As for the inn..."

He pointed behind himself.

"That building behind me is one."

Then he continued.

"There’s a saying among the people of the Dimension that the balance of the empire depends on the Royal Powers, the Imperial Family, and the Six Pillars."

"If even one of them falls, the entire empire will collapse."

Wei Xia Mo contacted Scarlet King while the entire group listened carefully.

(How can a power appear within only twenty-two thousand years and take control of the entire Second Dimension, yet no one in the First Dimension has ever heard of it?)

Scarlet King replied:

(There’s no reason for them to tell you about it.)

(And time differs from one Dimension to another.)

(Every Dimension has its own flow of time.)

Scarlet King suddenly remembered something.

He raised the talisman.

"And what exactly is this?"

The beggar immediately replied:

"Those are Authority Talismans."

"They range from Level Zero to Level Six."

"Level Six is the lowest, while Level Zero is the highest."

"They’re also divided into Merchant Talismans, Alchemist Talismans, Weapon Refiner Talismans, and many other types."

"These talismans first appeared during the beginning of the empire’s Great Expansion."

Scarlet King looked toward the rest of the group and nodded.

They moved toward the inn.

Scarlet King thought:

(Interesting.)

(These changes are quite fascinating.)

They entered the inn and rented a large room spacious enough for the entire group.

The moment they entered, Scarlet King sat on the bed.

"I’m going to try reconnecting myself to the Dao."

"You all go explore the city."

Ikalat nodded.

He thought:

(Well, it looks like he wants to do something secret, so he politely kicked us out.)

Everyone left.

Scarlet King sat in a meditative posture.

He began attempting to reconnect himself to the Dao.

At the same time, he directed a portion of his energy toward a world outside the Dimensions.

Every Dimension fundamentally possessed three thousand worlds beyond its own boundaries, though those worlds still belonged to it.

They could either be ordinary worlds—

or infinite worlds possessing hierarchical structures, where each layer comprehensively transcended the one beneath it.

They functioned similarly to the universes inside the Dimensions.

However, these worlds were vastly larger.

And one of those individual worlds was—

the Infinite Narrative World.

That was Scarlet King’s current objective.

To connect with it.

And seize control over it.

After all—

he had already been its master before.

More than once.

The Primordial Chaos Energy inside Scarlet King’s body began moving at Immeasurable Speed.

It left the Second Dimension.

Then entered the Infinite Narrative World.

The world resembled a shallow sea.

The water barely reached Scarlet King’s shoes as he manifested within the Infinite Narrative World and its infinite hierarchical layers.

Scarlet King looked around.

The sky resembled a glowing White Page.

Beneath him was water reflecting everything that occurred throughout the world.

This was the world’s control center.

Scarlet King reached it with ease.

He had known this place for a very long time.

But suddenly—

a version of Scarlet King appeared before him.

She had long hair streaked in black and white.

Her appearance was otherwise ordinary.

Her face was expressionless.

Her skin was deathly pale.

One of her eyes was white.

The other was black.

A cigarette rested between her lips.

She wore a classic black coat and a black detective’s hat.

And in her hand—

was the pistol Scarlet King always used.

Scarlet King thought:

(What is this?)

The copy began circling around him.

Then, without warning—

she raised the pistol.

She pulled the trigger.

A bullet was fired directly at him.

It reached him instantly.

It was an instantaneous attack.

It could not be dodged.

It could not be blocked.

It could not be stopped.

The bullet pierced Scarlet King’s heart.

But he felt no pain.

Instead, the copy approached him.

She extended her hand.

Scarlet King shook it.

Then—

she suddenly entered his body.

Scarlet King felt as though a broken chain within his dantian had been connected once again.

His eyes opened slightly.

"Well..."

"It seems I acquired a new Form."

"This will help me greatly in the future."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"And also..."

"The connection has returned."

That copy had been the manifestation of the Infinite Narrative World itself.

The world had once again merged with its former master.

Returning to the place where it originally belonged—

within the hands of its supreme master.

Its Ghairamengi ruler.