This was one of my favorite chapters to write, and, in my opinion, is where the true mystery of this novel starts. From Xue Bai's mysterious transmigration to the many anomalies, the Northern Continent Arc will reveal some answers while leaving you with more questions.
I hope you all stay for the ride!
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Xue Bai's Meets the First Anomaly, Sage Yang's Terror
Through the use of his physique, Xue Bai was easily able to reach the Kun Empire's camp. It wasn't that far, after all.
It was that once he reached it, he realized that there was an issue. Once Xue Bai reached the camp, he realized that his goal would be extremely hard to reach.
The camp wasn't very large, just spread out to about half a kilometer, but currently, none of the outer parts of the camp were being used.
Every single one of the Kun Empire's students was currently grouped up together in the center of the camp and armed to the teeth.
Wielding swords, wearing light armor that looked like it was made from the skins of demonic beasts, and radiating killing intent strong enough to rival the commanders back home, the students looked like they were prepared to go to war.
'Did they find out I killed one of their own?' Xue Bai thought to himself as he scanned the camp.
Even though Xue Bai did kill Ao Teng, he didn't think they would notice it. The person he found wasn't very important and was so ostracized that he was forced to do his business almost a kilometer away from the camp.
Xue Bai thought it would be fine to just kill the man.
'But how did they figure it out? Did they bring his soul lamp over?' Xue Bai was confused about how they figured it out, but since he couldn't, he stopped thinking about it and continued to find a straggler.
Yet after looking through most of it, Xue Bai couldn't find anyone too far away from the crowd. The most isolated person was in a group of three.
They were all huddled up and radiating killing intent as if they were preparing to conduct a crusade.
Seeing this, Xue Bai gave up on getting information today. The secret realm would open up soon anyway.
Being uninformed for two days more wouldn't hurt him much.
Shrugging to himself in the void, Xue Bai was about to leave, but the second he turned around, prepared to float away, his heart froze, and his blood ran cold.
Behind him was an androgynous-looking figure.
The figure was only a few inches away from him, yet Xue Bai couldn't even tell its gender.
Clad in a pristine sky-blue robe that covered up its neck, the figure was a good-looking human that could entice every gender.
With a masculine chiseled chin, and deep, profound look in his eyes, and soft and supple jade-like skin, the figure appealed to every gender.
However, if it were just that, Xue Bai wouldn't have cared and would've gone on with his day. It was what the figure was doing that made Xue Bai freeze like a deer in headlights.
It was staring at him.
With a wide smile plastered on its face, the figure was staring at him.
As if Xue Bai weren't hidden in the void but rather in the plane of reality, the figure looked at him.
'No, he can't see me, right? No way I'm in the void. No one below the Immortal Great Realm can detect the void.' Xue Bai tried to calm himself with such thoughts, but reality didn't let him as the figure soon spoke to him.
"Xue Bai, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be on this continent now." Sage Yang spoke with a calm voice as if it had said something normal and not something that broke Xue Bai.
'He knows my name?!' Xue Bai's soul was shaken, and his flight or fight response activated.
And since Xue Bai couldn't afford to have a fight here, he decisively decided to flee.
Using his Dao of Space to further enhance his speed in the void, Xue Bai started floating away at speeds comparable to a Law Manifestation realm cultivator.
Everything in Xue Bai's being was screaming at him to run, and he wasn't planning on being deaf to their shouts.
Sadly, the reality was cruel, as the figure only widened its smile at this.
"Xue Bai, you've come so far, so why not stay some more? This servant is very hospitable." Sage Yang said with a smile. And without any superficial movements, it lifted its fair right hand and grabbed at the space in front of it.
Piercing directly into the void, Sage Yang pulled the fleeing Xue Bai toward it as if its hands were a magnet.
Like a magnet attracting a metal, Xue Bai was yanked backward into the figure's hand, throat first.
Clasping the boy's throat, Sage Yang only grew curious at his appearance, especially when he wasn't supposed to be here, at least not this early.
"Xue Bai, I asked you a question. You know it's rude to keep people waiting. Especially when this servant was so polite." Sage Yang said as it put on a playful-looking frown.
Xue Bai didn't respond to this. He physically couldn't. Xue Bai couldn't speak, Sage Yang was gripping his throat too right, and the air in his lungs was getting squeezed out like toothpaste from a tube.
Panicked, as his life was slowly pulled sapped out, Xue Bai desperately clawed at the figure's arm, trying to portray that.
Sage Yang was astute and sensed Xue Bai's panic. So, albeit only by a little, Sage Yang lessened its grip.
"What the fuck are you?!" Xue Bai spat out as he coughed out some blood.
Nothing about this figure made sense!
How could someone here see through the void?
Not only that, but he pierced through the void using his bare hands!
The figure didn't even use the Dao of Space to accomplish that, Xue Bai would've sensed it if he did, but by just using pure strength, this figure pierced through space and into the void!
"I can answer your question, but it's first come, first serve. Answer my first." Sage Yang spoke as it deftly touched the blood Xue Bai spat out.
Xue Bai spat at the figure.
'Like hell, I'd answer your question!'
Obviously, this person wanted something from him. It'd be beyond stupid for Xue Bai to answer it.
By then, what purpose would his life have?
Xue Bai's spitball of blood and phlegm didn't fly far, as before it could connect with the figure, it disintegrated as if it had never existed in the first place.
"You're not being a good guest, Xue Bai." Sage Yang spoke with a frown.
Then with a rough throw, Sage Yang sent Xue Bai skidding through the dirt and into the base of a tree.
Thrown onto the ground, Xue Bai desperately tried to inhale oxygen to keep his life, but his crushed throat wasn't helping him at all.
However, that wasn't the time to worry about his throat. His life was in danger.
The Kun Empire students had woken up and had already started to circle him. Previously they had been confused when Sage Yang somehow found Xue Bai and was holding him up like a chicken, but now their qualms were gone.
Since Sage Yang had thrown him onto the ground like trash, it obviously meant that the boy was hostile.
And since they assumed that Xue Bai had killed Ao Teng, they wanted revenge.
Xue Bai could see their anger, and furthermore, the previously undirected killing intent was now firmly locked onto him. The killing intent from the 40-odd Kun Empire students was so dense that it had almost turned into a mist and was making Xue Bai shiver.
And because of this, Xue Bai knew he was far from being a match for any of them, so he decided to escape without hesitation.
But something was wrong.
'My physique! It's not working!' Xue Bai instantly panicked.
No matter how hard he tried to flip the switch inside of him to activate his physique, it didn't work.
'How? Why? When?!' Xue Bai's mental state was crumbling, and he almost collapsed.
His physique was his greatest skill behind his Dao of Space, but even then, it was much more useful than his Dao of Space. It was his lifeline.
Whenever he was in a pickle or a tight scenario, he could just use it to flee. Yet now, it wasn't working.
'Did that guy do something?!' Xue Bai instantly found the most suspicious suspect, and he was enraged.
"What the fuck did you do to me?!" Xue Bai roared out at the blue-robed Sage Yang, who still had a calm smile.
However, as he shouted, he realized how stupid he sounded. Obviously, the person wouldn't answer his question.
Why would it?
But even after Xue Bai realized that he didn't care. It didn't matter. What did was the overwhelming confusion and fear in him.
Something was far too weird about this figure, and Xue Bai was confused beyond belief about it.
"Oh, that? It's nothing. My clan has always been good at sealing things. And once I see something so neat, I sometimes can't help myself but seal it." Sage Yang softly laughed as if it hadn't done something heaven-defying but instead just something normal.
'Seal?! My physique is in the Earth-grade! How the fuck does a person in this backwater place have the ability to do that?' Xue Bai's mind was rattled beyond recognition, and he had long lost his calm.
But then something clicked. This person had never shown cultivation. Not only that, but he had seen Xue Bai in the void like it was nothing.
"You… who are you?" For the first time, terror was plastered on Xue Bai's face.
Ever since he had transmigrated, though there were some hiccups along the way, everything had been within his calculations.
Yet when he saw this being, everything he had known, everything he did know, was gone and out the window.
"Don't worry, Xue Bai. You don't need to know about me yet. If you do ever need to, you'll find me rather easily. And if you don't need to, then you don't need to know." Sage Yang's expression didn't even move even after seeing Xue Bai's collapsing mentality.
"But this also means our time to talk is over. Students! Avenge Ao Teng." And with a soft laugh, Sage Yang turned back to the portal.
Yet as it was in the turning motion, he stopped.
It sensed something.
"Oh? There is another guest?" Sage Yang said.
Then to everyone's confusion, he looked back at Xue Bai, who was still holding his throat and trying to refill his lungs.
"Guest, you can come out. There is no need to hide from this servant." Sage Yang laughed, ignoring the confused, filled gazes it was receiving.
From behind the tree that Xue Bai was resting on, a cloaked figure walked out.
"Oh? So that's what you are. A loser from an abandoned timeline." Sage Yang said.
This time, however, his voice wasn't the usual playful or calm but instead filled with deep disdain.
It was surprising to the Kun Empire students who only knew him as an ever-calm scholar ready to help everyone, no matter how underprivileged.
"What do you want? Abandoned ghost."