After Long Chen left, the black screen reappeared, returning everything to how it looked when he had first arrived.

“Huh?”

Only now did Long Chen realize he had circled the core region completely, unwittingly ending up behind it.

Before entering the Wind Domain Battlefield, Feng Xinyue and Ye Lingkong had repeatedly warned everyone to enter through the front gate, known as the Life Gate.

The core region of the Wind Domain Battlefield was the center of the powerful curse. It was where Feng Wuji[1] had unleashed his curse art.

Feng Xinyue said that the curse art was based on the eight trigrams: Body, Life, Pain, Limit, Vision, Death, Terror, and Opening. Of these gates, three were considered gates of fortune—Opening, Body, and Life—while three were gates of misfortune—Death, Terror, and Pain. The Vision and Limit gates were neutral.

Among the gates of fortune, the Life Gate was the most auspicious. In contrast, the Death Gate was the most dangerous.

Ever since the Wind Domain Battlefield first opened, the Wind God Sea Pavilion’s disciples had always entered through the Life Gate. Over countless years, no one had ever strayed from this path.

One reason was that the Wind God’s lineage could naturally sense the Life Gate’s aura, and the other reason was that entering through the other gates was not only riskier but also required much longer detours.

In Long Chen’s case, he lacked the ability to sense the Life Gate. Despite aiming for it, he had somehow veered so far off course that he wound up here—at the Death Gate, after unknowingly circling the entire core region.

Such a thing had never occurred to the Wind God Sea Pavilion’s disciples or someone from other sects, as the Life Gate was simply too easy to find.

Though Long Chen didn’t know much about the eight gates, he understood that they were supposed to contain all manifestations of the world, expressing eight directions, eight elements, and even any interconnecting web of eight attributes. And one thing was certain—the Death Gate was taboo. Yet, he had come out of it unharmed, an outcome as strange as it was improbable.

He counted himself fortunate to have Huo Linger and Lei Linger with him. Without their protection, he might not have returned alive.

“I should regroup with Wan-er and the others. They've probably gone on without me. But since I’m here, I have to see what lies beyond the Death Gate,” muttered Long Chen.

Long Chen had made his determination. Since he had come here, then he had to go in no matter what. What was there to be afraid of? But for now, he backed away with Huo Linger and Lei Linger to heal themselves with the primal chaos space’s energy. He also needed some time to recover his astral energy.

Upon returning to the Wind Domain Battlefield, Long Chen couldn’t help but feel a bit out of place. The Heavenly Daos were merciless toward him, no longer looking after him. He could feel the Heavenly Dao energy unintentionally damaging his wounds, slowing down their recovery.

“The heavens are still the heavens, but the Dao is no longer the original Dao. Just who is manipulating it?” Long Chen demanded through clenched teeth, but no one answered.

Even after mobilizing the life energy of the primal chaos space, Long Chen found that the wounds on his body were healing very slowly. He sensed the distinct aura left behind by those who attacked him—devil race, Blood race, Netherworld race—and clenched his fists in anger.

“You’re all traitors to the nine heavens,” he muttered. “I’ll remember this debt.”

Betrayal wounded him far deeper than his physical injuries. Now, he understood how the human race had fallen from the peak of the ten thousand races. There had been traitors in their midst. But he knew he couldn’t dwell on this now; If his thoughts were a mess, he wouldn’t be able to focus on healing.

Long Chen consumed a medicinal pill and entered a meditative state. Gradually, his chaotic thoughts cleared, and his exhausted astral energy started to replenish. Like a tree reviving in spring, he grew stronger, drawing power from the heavens and earth.

All he needed to do now was maintain this meditative state. In this relaxed state, the recovery ability of the primal chaos space was at its greatest, healing his essence, qi, and spirit quickly.

Days passed as Huo Linger and Lei Linger took turns resting and standing guard. Their recent battle had left them damaged to their cores. They had barely withstood the relentless assault of the powerful devil creatures.

Fortunately, there was a pile of corpses in the primal chaos space. Life energy released from the corpses flowed into the Moon Trees and Fusang Trees, generating an endless supply of flame energy for Huo Linger. Lei Linger also benefited, as the bodies released locked lightning tribulation energy that fueled her recovery.

However, the true reason for Lei Linger’s rapid recovery came from the mysterious vine. This vine was still small but surrounded by a wild and terrifying aura of black lightning, radiating a power that even Lei Linger found intimidating.

In the past, she had tried communing with the vine, but it had always ignored her. But in her weakened state, she sensed it calling to her.

When Lei Linger got close, the vine extended a tender leaf, placing it gently in her hand. Instantly, a vast surge of thunderforce poured into her, and her nearly depleted power was restored to fifty percent in a single breath.

Lei Linger was astonished; her body held nearly limitless thunderforce, yet this vine had managed to restore half of her power in an instant. Normally, regaining that much would have taken her at least three days, and only if ample thunderforce were available for her to absorb.

Lei Linger and Huo Linger recovered rapidly, and seven days later, their power returned to its peak. Long Chen, however, took a full ten days to recover completely. This time, his wounds left deep scars that even the primal chaos space couldn’t erase.

As Long Chen looked at his scars, a cold, deadly intent sparked in his eyes. “Good. These will serve as reminders of the traitors who betrayed the human race.”

He stretched, feeling the transformation within him. Though his body bore the marks of battle, his strength had surged to new heights—a leap beyond anything he had experienced.

“Let me see how powerful this mysterious fellow is.”

With resolve hardening his steps, Long Chen returned to the Death Gate, where something powerful lurked—so strong that it had nearly destroyed Huo Linger and Lei Linger with a single strike.

1. The Wind God’s disciple who used the Dao of Reincarnation to curse the devils and sacrificed his life in the process. ☜