City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

The Boundary Between Order And Chaos

With his original idea having been shut down, Rhodey sighed in disappointment, “What can you give me?”

The primal chaos beast replied calmly, “I can give you what you call an extradivine weapon or strengthen your soul. Alternatively, I can give you some information about the alter world.”

Rhodey immediately started struggling with his options. An extradivine weapon could be passed down amongst the Scholars for all time, while a strengthening of his soul would give him a huge chance to become an epic being. Information on the alter world was valuable as well; only one Scholar had even attempted to go there in history, but they had immediately been taken over by the power of darkness there and turned into nothing. The only information that was transmitted back was a few paragraphs of indecipherable text.

The alter world was the darkness to the void’s light. Very few beings in all of Norland’s history had even been able to peek at its existence, and nobody had ever explored it to a significant degree. In this regard, humans were somewhat like mayflies. Their entire existence hinged around order, and as such it was impossible for them to comprehend a different aspect of reality. Information about this world would be an enormous benefit to the entire race; it would allow them to actually start exploring the darkness beneath the light. They would be able to break apart the limits of laws themselves, obtaining absolute power in their own right.

The primal chaos that Rhodey wanted was actually the origin force that allowed the chaos beast to exist between order and chaos. It was far beyond mere knowledge of the alter world, which was why his greed had surprised the beast so greatly.

While an extradivine weapon was a significant boost to the Scholars, a boost to the soul would allow Rhodey to become the strongest of them and leave his mark on Norland’s history. However, neither held a candle to the enormous lighthouse that was information on the alter world. But then, what did the advancement of mankind really have to do with him?

Rhodey struggled enormously with these options. He knew that a chance like this would only come once. Thankfully, the chaos beast was extremely patient. It could wait a few centuries or even a millennium, all of its focus placed on the strand of golden hair floating before it.

……

Elsewhere in the void, a portal opened up to reveal Sharon and Praton walking through.

The latter immediately threw out seven small balls of light, a spatial spell that could help determine how far one was from their target. At the same time, legendary mages made it a habit to drop these spatial anchors when exploring the void, allowing newer generations to locate themselves more accurately. In many ways, this was like exploring a new plane. One person would open a path and build the Lighthouse of Time, allowing others to finish the task.

It didn’t take long to calculate their location, but the result left Praton spaced out for a brief moment. The plump mage eventually turned to Sharon and smiled carefully, “Your power truly is remarkable, Your Excellency.”

This was no empty praise. The man’s bald head was shivering in nervousness as he realised just how great the gap in their power was; Sharon’s portal had taken less than a day to cross a distance that would require a year of travel for him. Unlike interplanar travel supported by the Eternal Dragon, time still passed in the external world as one shuttled through the void. Sharon’s speed was hundreds of times his own, a gap that he couldn’t even comprehend!

Sharon stared hard at the space around her, her brows furrowed in worry as she ignored Praton’s words. After a moment of hesitation, she turned and asked, “Are you sure there’s a stonelord in there?”

“Yes, I saw it personally, but I haven’t been able to catch it at all. The creature digs into the ground and reappears hundreds of kilometres away, and it just had a little elemental essence all around it with nothing special. I didn’t try too hard.”

“Mm, that’s a stonelord,” her brows relaxed slightly. She was sensing some sort of dangerous existence somewhere, but she couldn’t tell just what this feeling was; it was surprisingly weak and hard to locate, and even Destiny’s Balance didn’t give her an answer.

However, her belly suddenly rumbled a little as the child’s heart pulsed from within. It only ever beat once in a while, but she could sense that each pulse created a huge amount of energy that supported the young life’s growth. Even now, the power of those pulses was comparable to a legend’s full-force attack. It left her extremely excited about how strong her child would be after birth, but she also found that she didn’t really care. Just the idea of a baby felt blissful.

Sharon had never seen a stonelord before, but knowledge deep in her soul told her that this was the favourite food of her people, a key being that would help her evolve. That still wouldn’t have been enough to override her instincts of danger, but now she hesitated. That stonelord wasn’t just useful for her, but also for the little life in her belly. It could boost her child’s power greatly!

Just like the legendary mage herself, the stonelord was a primordial race that should have gone extinct. If she missed this chance, she would likely never be able to find one again. Considering things time and time again, she eventually pushed down her worries and decided to take the risk, “Can you tell me exactly where you saw it?”

“Of course!” Praton felt himself sweating under Sharon’s bright blue gaze, waving his arms to project a map into the air, “Here, at the boundary between order and chaos.”

Reading the coordinates, Sharon silently calculated that it would take about a month’s time. She nodded and opened another portal, pulling Praton in with her. In the blink of an eye, this section of the void returned to normal.

……

Deep in the void, a dozen abnormal existences were gathered outside a desolate plane. They were all of varying forms, but their focus was fixed on the plane as they scanned it repeatedly. This plane wasn’t large, nor was it particularly developed. Intelligent creatures had appeared only a few millennia ago, and the continent was still home to all sorts of powerful beasts.

The only race here walked on six feet, the tips of their arms containing countless giant tendrils that they used to craft with. They had simple magical tools and small towns, alongside one single kingdom that was grander than the rest. They already had two gods, the forefather of the natives and a huge sea beast that had terrorised them for millennia. Neither of the gods had even vaguely sensed the beings scanning them.

A few more specks of light eventually appeared in the distance, a few powerful beings beginning to show themselves. Some walked through portals or tore through space, and there was one that just blinked through the void. Amongst all these beings was a single human.

“It’s time,” a thought was transmitted to every single existence, “Let’s go in.”