As the door slammed shut, the dim starlight from the distant starry sky disappeared from Yu Sheng's eyes—a full half-minute passed before he came back to his senses from that momentary shock. Then he took a long deep breath, and cold sweat broke out in hindsight.
After opening a door, you might not necessarily arrive at a certain "location" in an Otherworld or on a planet, and there's even a certain probability of directly entering space?
The randomness and range of this "door" far exceeded Yu Sheng's imagination!
At this moment, Yu Sheng even felt a sense of relief—he was glad that the first time he accidentally opened a "door," he stepped into an Otherworld instead of opening the door into deep space. If he had been so unlucky at that time, he couldn't imagine what would have happened.
In the worst case, he might have to go through a rapid and continuous process of death and rebirth in the harsh environment of outer space. There might not even be a chance to maintain a clear mind, let alone explore and master the ability to open doors in this rapid and continuous process of death—even if he miraculously survived, or was lucky enough to open the door back to the surface in a fluke, it would have been an extremely terrible experience.
And after his pounding heart finally calmed down, Yu Sheng immediately began to analyze the new information he had just obtained in the process of opening the door.
When the door opened, he didn't feel the terrifying "suction" from the vacuum environment on the other side, nor did he seem to feel the cold that should have been in outer space.
But the previous few times the door opened, he could both hear the sound on the other side of the door and feel some of the environmental effects on the other side of the door—such as the scorching air currents on a certain barren planet.
Why was this? Did the "door" itself have some kind of filtering property? When the environmental difference between the two sides was too great, would it actively isolate this influence? Or did "outer space" itself have some special characteristics, belonging to a certain "coordinate" that could only be seen but not truly reached? Or… was that just now not really outer space, but another kind of "Otherworld" that looked like a starry sky…
Yu Sheng thought about it and looked back at Irene in the oil painting.
Irene looked over here hesitantly. "Should we continue? You seemed to be startled just now…"
Yu Sheng closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, only firmness remained.
"Continue."
He grasped the doorknob again, but he was more cautious than last time. He more carefully perceived the subtle and minute "spiritual guidance," and at the same time, he tried to recall the feeling he had when he had successfully opened the door several times before, trying to… replicate one of the passages.
He slowly opened the door. On the other side of the door was just an unremarkable scene, which looked like a barren beach.
It was not any of the doors he had opened before.
Then, he tried again and again, opening the door again and again, looking for the path that could lead to Hu Li's side.
Or any other passage that could be replicated—as long as it could allow him to master the rules of opening doors.
And in this constant attempt, at a certain moment, a fleeting thought even arose in Yu Sheng's mind—would there be a door behind which was the familiar "hometown" in his memory?
He still remembered that he had left home one morning and came to this "Boundary City." Although there was no clear evidence, he was now increasingly suspicious that that was the real first time he had "opened a door."
It was just that at that time, he was completely unaware of it.
So in a future door opening, would he push open the door and see the home in his memory?
Yu Sheng forcibly suppressed the thought that suddenly arose in his heart. He knew that he had more urgent things to do now. Going home… he would treat it as a temporary expectation buried in his heart.
The door opened again and again, fantastic, unremarkable, absurd and strange, and even… bustling and lively.
Countless distant worlds rushed towards him in every brief process of opening and closing the door, and then slammed shut. And in this constantly repeated process, Yu Sheng suddenly had a wonderful feeling.
This world… was indeed not just Boundary City.
Outside this huge city, which seemed to possess all kinds of special "boundary" characteristics… was so vast and boundless.
So many sceneries, so many mysteries, so many strange and varied distant places—every time he opened a door, with a casual push and pull.
He was not trapped in this city.
Irene also seemed to slowly get excited. Although it was unknown what this doll in the painting was excited about, she watched the scenery outside the door with Yu Sheng, and obviously gradually became more and more interested.
She couldn't move, so she began to comment on the scenes outside the door from the side—
"This mountain is so high! There's something shining on the mountain. Will we have a chance to see it in the future?"
"The sea! What a big fish!"
"Wow! It's all snow, but why is it light blue… it doesn't look like there's any life…"
"…It's a toilet. Let's go, let's go."
"…You scared me, there's a ghost!"
The doll was never quiet for a moment. She would babble non-stop whenever she saw something outside the door. At first, Yu Sheng felt it was a bit noisy, but gradually, Irene's ever-changing exclamations became a bit of fun in the boring "testing" process.
Then, at a certain moment before opening the door, he suddenly felt a stir in his heart, as if he had finally "hit" the right frequency when searching for a very narrow band with an old-fashioned knob-capacitor tuning radio. He perceived a passage that had been opened before—not the valley full of hunger, but it was also a door he had indeed opened.
Yu Sheng suddenly grasped that feeling, and then for the first time, he actively controlled his "spiritual guidance," without any technique, relying solely on instinct to approach that familiar passage—
He cautiously pushed open the door and looked at the other side.
He saw flames burning around the door frame.
He also saw a solemn and ancient hall in the distance, with spiritual light and splendor floating between the flying eaves and corridors of the hall. There was also a handsome young man in brocade robes and a crane-haired, youthful-faced old man with an immortal-like demeanor.
The young man was being hung from the beam by the old man and whipped.
The old man's voice was full of energy, and it could be heard clearly from here—
"You've been with your master for so many years! You secretly cultivated the demonic path! Tell me! What's the matter with refining living beings in the furnace! What's the matter with the human head! You, you… did you really harm the innocent!?"
The handsome young man in brocade robes twisted on the beam and shouted, "Master, I've been wronged! I was just refining an ordinary spirit-gathering pill! How would I know that my junior brother would see a person emerge from the fire door of the furnace… ouch, ouch, don't hit me, don't hit me, Master, I've been wronged!"
Hearing this, the old immortal master almost jumped up. "Stop quibbling! I checked the furnace before and even caught a glimpse of the spirit of a living being! There was indeed a living person in your furnace!"
Yu Sheng was dumbfounded here. Then he saw a small figure pop up next to the door frame. It was the young Daoist boy with the fan from before—the little brat stared at the door with wide eyes, shouting as he ran towards the main hall, "Master! Master! A human head has emerged from Senior Brother's furnace again! It's the same one as before!"
The old man with the immortal-like demeanor then pulled out a copper-headed leather belt…
Of course, it might not be a copper-headed leather belt. It was too far to see clearly—it was just that from the young man's instantaneous scream, the deterrent force of that thing was no less than a copper-headed leather belt.
Yu Sheng slammed the door shut with a bang. Shock, excitement, excitement, and all kinds of emotions were intertwined. After a long while, he turned his head and shouted excitedly at Irene, "Irene! I did it! I did it!"
Irene was startled. "Calm down, what did you do?"
"The passage just now was one I opened before! I just controlled it and opened it again—this process is controllable! Replicable!"
He was both excited and excited. After confirming that he could really control that subtle "spiritual guidance," it also meant that he could also control and replicate any other "door" that had been opened before, including the valley where Hu Li was!
The next thing he had to do was to try to recall the "frequency" he had perceived in his heart when he fell into the valley before. Even if he could only find a similar frequency, he would exhaust all possibilities until he found it!
Irene was obviously also excited with Yu Sheng, but this time, the little doll unexpectedly calmed down very quickly. She opened her mouth to remind him, "Well, shouldn't you explain the situation to the people on the other side of the door first… the one hanging on the beam is about to be beaten to death…"
Yu Sheng was stunned. Only then did he belatedly remember this matter—mainly because every time he opened the door before, it was very random. He was not yet used to the situation where the door-opening process was controllable and many things could be done.
Then he reached out and grasped the doorknob, but a trace of hesitation flashed in his heart.
Are the people on the other side easy to talk to? That immortal-like… could he be the "immortal" that Hu Li mentioned? But it didn't seem like it. The main reason was that the style didn't look like an immortal who would open a travel agency. Maybe they were not from the same system… what if he couldn't explain it well and the other party attacked him? He was a mortal and definitely couldn't beat them… then he would just talk through the door? The other party probably couldn't hit him through the door… after all, after he closed the door before, the immortal-like old man only perceived the "spirit of a living being" and didn't follow the door to find him…
All kinds of messy thoughts flashed through his mind. Yu Sheng finally gritted his teeth, concentrated again, and tried to lock onto the frequency of the door opening before. After confirming it several times, he finally cautiously opened the door.
The joy of success emerged from the bottom of his heart. He had successfully replicated that passage again—
The immortal-like old man was escorting the young man in gorgeous clothes who had been whipped for a long time, flying over from a distance on a piece of rosy cloud.
Yu Sheng was across the door and didn't dare to get close. He just shouted loudly, "It's all a misunderstanding!"
Then the young man in gorgeous clothes fell directly from the rosy cloud, almost crying out, "You can't play like this! I don't know which senior immortal is on the other side. If I have offended you in any way, please tell me clearly!"
"I don't know! I was just passing by!" Yu Sheng was telling the truth. "I didn't know this was your furnace—it's a misunderstanding, really a misunderstanding."
Then he just closed the door.
The main reason was that he was really afraid that the immortal on the other side would attack him.
Then Yu Sheng turned his head and stared at Irene in the oil painting.
"…Do you think I explained it clearly?"
Irene nodded vigorously. "I think you explained it clearly."
"…I feel really sorry for him."
"…You probably won't encounter him next time. The world is so big, right?"
"Yes, that makes sense."