Upon hearing the old man's words, Chu Tian glanced at his level, twenty-one, experience: 3661650/3808000.
From memory, he calculated that leveling from fifteen to twenty-one required approximately five point two million experience.
Combined with the current experience pool of three point six six million, he had already gained nearly nine million experience points here.
Gathering skill, one-second cast time, 3000 experience per minute, 180,000 per hour…
He had been here for at least fifty hours.
However, it was impossible to gather non-stop every single moment.
The old man said he had been here for three days, which should be accurate.
If he hadn't logged off during this time, then at this moment…
“Are you saying my real-world body has already…” Chu Tian couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes!”
“On Earth?” Chu Tian confirmed.
“Yes!”
“Uh, then what do I do? How do I get out?” Chu Tian could imagine how worried Luo Luo would be if he had been in the game pod for three days without coming out.
“Now you’re in a hurry?” the old man asked.
“Mmm, mmm, mmm! Bu… uh… old sir, just pull me out!” Chu Tian nodded repeatedly.
“Hmph, now you’re in a hurry, it’s too late. The Underworld has its own order, and I can’t do anything about it. I’m just informing you. You have four more days! If you exceed this time, even if you get out, all your bodily functions will cease, and I won’t be able to revive you again. Also, my name is Dao Tian, remember that, you brat!” Dao Tian was also getting annoyed.
“Uh… then what exactly should I do?” Chu Tian dared not offend the old man now.
“Go back the way you came, exit the gate of the Underworld, and reach the Void. Then I’ll have a way to pull you out… …move… forward… …Underworld… Palace… …do… …it…” Dao Tian’s voice was now a bit broken.
Chu Tian heard the first part clearly.
Go back the way he came? He’d have to get past that monster holding a soul-hooking chain. That wouldn’t be easy!
“Hoo… brat, it’s not easy for me to break through the Underworld’s order once and communicate with you. Remember to throw away the badge on your chest before you come out!” Dao Tian’s voice rang in his ears again.
“Uh, then what if I get corrupted by the death energy?”
“Nonsense, that was all a lie. Wait… …you… …talk… …later… …don’t…” Dao Tian’s words became intermittent again, then abruptly stopped.
Seeing that Dao Tian had completely fallen silent, Chu Tian thought: Four more days?
Looking at the sea of flowers, he had only gathered a tiny area. He gritted his teeth.
He lowered his head and continued gathering. If Dao Tian saw this, he would surely curse him furiously.
Another system prompt sounded, Chu Tian reached level twenty-two.
His inventory was also filled with 彼岸花 (Bǐ'àn Huā - Shore Flower). This time, he finally stood up and looked back in the direction he came from.
He also looked towards the distance, at the end of the canyon, where there was a water curtain reaching the sky.
Having gathered here for so long, he had long wanted to go and see it.
Chu Tian’s eyes flickered. It felt a bit regretful to go back without even seeing the Ghost Gate Pass.
He had already surveyed his surroundings. There was only this one canyon, with towering cliffs on both sides that reached the sky. Only that water curtain seemed a bit strange.
It was like a waterfall appearing out of nowhere from the sky.
Since he still had four days, why not go and see? It would only take half a day at most to get back.
Transform: Giant Deer Form.
Chu Tian accelerated, weaving through the sea of flowers, running towards the end of the canyon.
The water curtain gradually appeared before his eyes. Viewed up close, it was even more spectacular.
Just as he reached the bottom of the water curtain, a gap opened in the middle, just enough for him to pass through.
Chu Tian saw a vertical cloud ladder behind the water curtain.
Should he go or not? What if he couldn’t come back?
Chu Tian hesitated, then took a step back. As he retreated, the gap in the water curtain closed again.
He stepped forward again, and the gap opened again, like an automatic door.
After much thought, he remembered Dao Tian’s broken words earlier, something about “move forward, Underworld Palace,” perhaps it was another way out.
If Dao Tian knew what he was thinking, he would surely slap himself hard. Why did he have to blurt out that sentence?
It was originally meant to scare Chu Tian, but because it was broken, he misunderstood it as another way out.
Dao Tian’s original words were: “Don’t move forward. If you enter the Underworld King’s Palace, you’ll be directly sent to the animal path. In your next life, you’ll be a pig or a dog!”
Reaching the bottom along the cloud ladder, Chu Tian was astonished to find that the waterfall, after flowing down, was actually flowing upwards, forming a bizarre cycle.
Logically, after coming all the way down, he should be underground.
But here it was still bright. Chu Tian scanned his surroundings. There were no lights, nor did sunlight penetrate. The entire world naturally emitted a yellowish light, as if light simply existed in the entire space.
Even stranger, as he stepped into this place, what he saw above was not earth, but the sky.
A dim yellow sky, like weather during a sandstorm.
After descending the cloud ladder, he walked along the path, and a grand pass appeared before him. The giant city gate tower pierced the sky, and three large characters were written on it.
The characters were not Chinese, but Chu Tian could understand them. They were “Ghost Gate Pass”!
The colossal city walls, topping the sky and entering the earth, were immeasurable in height.
The city walls on the left and right also seemed endless, as if they spanned the entire world.
As Chu Tian moved forward, a large, open gate appeared. Normal gates usually opened outwards, but this gate was open inwards. The dark iron-like door panels supported the entire sky. On the door panels were enormous rivets, each of an immeasurable size.
Upon reaching the city gate, Chu Tian realized how small he was, like an ant. Inside the gate, it was pitch black, and nothing could be seen. The contrast between light and dark divided the two worlds, giving Chu Tian an extremely mysterious and eerie feeling.
Beneath the gate, there were no mythological Ox-Head and Horse-Face guards, nor any scenes of rampant ghosts. There was only the darkness before him, and the dim yellow brightness behind him.
Suddenly, Chu Tian spotted two figures in the distance. Due to the distance, he couldn't see them clearly. He couldn’t tell what those two figures were, but they successively threw themselves into the darkness.
Standing here, Chu Tian recalled a folk saying: “Once you enter the Ghost Gate Pass, life and death no longer return.”
“This damn old man, he wouldn’t lie to me, would he?” Chu Tian thought.
(Dao Tian: You damn fool, you didn’t even hear clearly and you’re blabbing. You’ll eventually blab yourself to death.)
He took a step forward…
“Ah…”
Chu Tian fell from a great height. When he got up, he stared blankly at the scenery before him.
“Is this… the Ghost Gate Pass?” Chu Tian muttered.
Didn’t I just enter? Chu Tian rubbed his head, then suddenly realized he was clutching a piece of obsidian-like jade pendant in his hand. It was unadorned, like a mere stone.
Looking at the jade pendant in his hand, Chu Tian tried hard to recall where it came from. Hadn’t he just entered the Ghost Gate Pass, and now he had fallen from the sky and returned outside?
But no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn’t recall what happened after he walked through the Ghost Gate Pass. It was as if a section of his memory was missing.
At the same time, a gentle voice told him that he couldn’t go in again, time was running out, and he should go back!
And this voice, Chu Tian remembered clearly, that warm feeling was something he had never possessed.
How could this be? What exactly was going on? All the events were forgotten, but this voice, he remembered it very clearly.
Chu Tian took another step forward. He wanted to enter the Ghost Gate Pass and find his lost memories.