The moment Fan Xinglou waved her sleeve, the surrounding elements stirred restlessly, and the scenery twisted and changed colour.
In the next instant, the three of them had moved from the rubble-strewn redevelopment zone to the top of a spacious wooden pavilion.
"Is this... Huangchen Palace?"
Claudia looked down at the palace beneath their feet, which appeared identical to the others, yet she effortlessly recognized and named it, her face filled with astonishment.
"Teleportation?"
Roy also glanced around, taking in the pavilions and corridors brimming with Chinese-style architecture. This was likely inside Jie Long Academy?
To move from the redevelopment zone to here in an instant—Fan Xinglou's spatial manipulation was comparable to Taigong Wang's... No, worlds differed, and so did the difficulty of space transfer. It wasn't fair to compare them directly.
"Shortening the earth's veins, traversing thousands of miles—this old lady used the 'Shukuchijutsu' technique to bring you to Jie Long. This is the Moon-Viewing Platform atop Huangchen Palace. Even among my disciples, few are qualified to come here. We can talk properly here."
Fan Xinglou waved her hand, and a set of wooden chairs and a table—crafted from some unknown material—appeared before them.
"Take a seat!"
Though her interest lay solely with Roy, Fan Xinglou didn't play favorites. She added another chair for Claudia before sitting down herself without ceremony.
Roy and Claudia followed their host's lead and sat as well.
Fan Xinglou waved her hand again, and porcelain bowls appeared on the table. She then grasped the air, summoning an aged gourd from which she poured a peculiar golden-hued liquid.
"Honored guests deserve proper hospitality, not just any random offering. This is 'Medicine Gold Soup,' brewed by this old lady herself—unique in all the world. Go ahead and taste it. Of course, if you're not truly an honored guest, don't blame me if I later beat you until you vomit it all back up!"
Fan Xinglou's sharp gaze bore into Roy, her words laced with unspoken meaning.
Don't try to deceive me.
Her tone left no room for doubt.
"I understand. I guarantee everything I say is true."
Roy shrugged nonchalantly, lifting the porcelain bowl to take a sip of the golden medicinal broth.
Then his eyebrows rose in surprise. The prana he had nearly exhausted was rapidly replenishing the moment the Medicine Gold Soup touched his stomach.
This stuff could restore prana?
In the two months he'd been in this world, Roy had never heard of anything capable of restoring expended prana. Healing abilities could mend only the body—prana recovery was solely the domain of Genestellars, with no shortcuts. That was common knowledge here.
Claudia also took a sip and showed a similarly astonished expression.
But she wisely refrained from asking questions, leaving the conversation to Roy and Fan Xinglou.
"Then let this old lady begin first—it's what I promised earlier."
Fan Xinglou paused, likely considering where to start.
After a moment, she seemed to settle on her explanation and waved her hand again. A three-dimensional projection appeared before Roy and Claudia.
It was a translucent Earth, slowly rotating in space.
Then suddenly, countless meteorites appeared from outer space, raining down one after another onto the Earth's surface, causing cataclysmic changes across the entire world.
"Is this the Invertia?"
Claudia watched the holographic projection with an expression of understanding.
"Indeed, this is the Invertia. However, the key point isn't the meteorites themselves, but how they appeared—they manifested abruptly in Earth's outer space without any warning."
Fan Xinglou pointed at the meteorites in the projection as she explained to Roy.
"During the Invertia, observatories worldwide failed to detect the meteorites' approach—this fact is now written in textbooks. It proves the meteorites truly appeared suddenly on this side of the world."
"Keep watching."
Fan Xinglou gestured at the hologram, which zoomed rapidly toward the surface following the falling meteorites.
Just as the meteorites were about to impact the ground, radiant, layered super-massive magic circles suddenly unfolded around them, covering the surrounding land completely.
After the magic circles expanded, everything within their boundaries vanished as if scooped out—buildings, humans, everything disappeared, leaving only perfectly circular giant craters behind.
"The energy from the meteorite impacts transformed into spell formations, transferring everything inside them away."
Fan Xinglou didn't beat around the bush, providing the answer straightforwardly.
"Transferred? To where?"
"The other side of the world."
Fan Xinglou shrugged nonchalantly.
"In China, we call it the Wonderland. In Norse mythology, it's Asgard... Different places have different names. Nowadays, they've all become the dwelling places of immortals and deities from myths—though in reality, it's not far from the truth. Throughout history, many from my era grew weary of this world and sought every means to ascend to the Wonderland. Very few remain on this side now."
In other words, even without considering the Wonderland on the other side, just looking at Earth alone, there were still quite a few experts at Fan Xinglou's level. The reason they remained unheard of was likely because these powerful individuals simply chose not to reveal themselves to the world.
This world truly hid dragons and crouched tigers.
"From what you're saying, did these powerful individuals exist even before the Invertia?"
Claudia frowned, looking at Fan Xinglou with disbelief.
"You're implying that without the mana brought by these meteorites, how could so many powerful beings have existed before, correct?"
Fan Xinglou scoffed at her words, laughing mockingly.
"I've already shown you—those meteorites didn't appear naturally but were transferred to this world by someone's hand. That's why what should have been an extinction-level event merely left craters. This proves the Invertia was a manipulated phenomenon—if someone can control it now, why couldn't they before?"
Hearing this, Claudia shuddered, a sense of absurdity rising from the depths of her heart.
The Invertia had occurred in the past too!
"The Invertia isn't the first occurrence on Earth. The Genestellar have existed since ancient times. Of course, this Invertia is the largest in scale, bringing unprecedented changes to Earth."
"Alright, I've explained everything I needed to. Now it's your turn."
Fan Xinglou turned her gaze to Roy, her eyes brimming with intense curiosity and desire.
"Tell me all about that other world you mentioned! Don't you dare tell me now that it was all made up!"
"Of course, no problem."
Roy nodded naturally. With a wave of his hand, he opened a silver thread in the air, then pulled it apart to form a grayish pouch.
Fan Xinglou watched this with keen interest, looking as if she wanted to examine it closely.
"Please don't laugh, but all I have are some photos and videos..."
Before coming to this world, Roy had considered that he might need to attract people from this world to his own, so he had prepared some materials. But constrained by the limitations of his era and technology, he now felt his preparations were embarrassingly inadequate—how could they compare to their holographic projections?
"Before that, I have one request."
"Hmm?"
Fan Xinglou frowned, her expression gradually turning unfriendly.
After I've been so open with you, you still dare to make demands?
Roy remained unfazed.
"I hope you can train me."
Fan Xinglou was taken aback for a moment before a wild grin spread across her face.
"Ha! How did you know I was thinking the same thing?"
***
Hey readers!
Want to read ahead? 📖 Join my Patreon for early access to 30+ advance chapters! Your support helps me write more and bring the story to you faster.
🔹patreon.com/aarvan🔹