As the door slammed shut, the faint starlight from the distant cosmos vanished from Yu Sheng's sight.
It took him half a minute to recover from his shock, and when he did, he found himself breaking into a cold sweat.
After opening the door, it didn't necessarily lead to a specific "location" in another realm or on a planet.
There was even a chance of being thrust directly into space? The randomness of this "door" and its range far exceeded Yu Sheng's imagination.
At this moment, he felt a wave of relief wash over him.
He was grateful that when he first opened the "door" by accident, he had stepped into another realm rather than into the vastness of the universe.
If he had really faced such bad luck back then, he could hardly imagine the consequences.
In the worst-case scenario, he might have found himself in a relentless cycle of death and rebirth in the harsh environment of outer space, with no chance to maintain coherent thought, let alone search for the ability to open doors during such a rapid and continuous death.
Even if he had miraculously endured or stumbled upon a door back to solid ground, it would have been an incredibly terrifying experience.
Once his racing heart finally calmed down, Yu Sheng began analyzing the new information he'd gathered from his earlier experience of opening the door.
When the door opened, he hadn’t felt the horrific "pull" from the vacuum on the other side, nor had he sensed the coldness that should be present in outer space.
However, during previous openings, he could hear sounds from the other side and feel environmental effects—like hot air currents from a desolate planet.
Why was that? Did the "door" have some sort of filtering property? Did it actively block certain effects when the difference between the two environments was too vast? Or was there something unique about "outer space," a kind of coordinate that one could see but not truly reach? Or perhaps… what he had seen moments ago wasn't true outer space but a different realm that merely resembled the night sky?
Yu Sheng pondered this as he glanced back at the oil painting of Erin.
Erin hesitated as she looked over: “Should we continue? You seemed quite startled just now…”
Yu Sheng closed his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them again, he felt a firm resolve.
“Let’s continue.”
He grasped the door handle once more, but this time with greater caution.
He attuned himself more carefully to that subtle and delicate "spiritual guidance" while attempting to recall the sensations he experienced during his previous successful attempts at opening the door.
He tried to… reproduce one of those passages.
Slowly, he opened the door, revealing an unremarkable scene that looked like a desolate beach.
This wasn't any door he had opened before.
Then, time and again, he attempted to open it, searching for a path that could lead him to Hu Li, or any other passable route, as long as it allowed him to grasp the rules of door-opening.
During these repeated attempts, a fleeting thought crossed Yu Sheng’s mind—was there a door that led to his familiar "hometown"?
He remembered that it was one morning after he had pushed the door open and left home that he found himself in this "Border City."
Although there was no concrete evidence, he increasingly suspected that was the first time he truly “opened a door.” Back then, he had been completely oblivious.
So, in the future, would he ever push open a door and see the home from his memories?
He forcibly suppressed this sudden thought, knowing he had more pressing matters at hand.
Going home… would just have to be a hope buried within his heart for now.
With each successive opening of the door, he encountered strange, ordinary, absurd, and even bustling scenes.
Countless distant worlds came rushing at him during each brief opening and closing of the door, only to shut swiftly again.
In this repetitive process, a peculiar sensation washed over Yu Sheng.
This world… surely wasn't just the Border City.
Outside this massive city, which appeared to hold some extraordinary qualities as a "junction," laid an expanse vast and boundless.
So many landscapes, countless mysteries, and an array of odd and colorful places—right there, at each door opening, inside his casual pushes and pulls.
He wasn’t trapped in this city.
Erin seemed to be getting more excited as well.
Though he didn’t understand what this painted figure found exhilarating, she watched the scenes outside with Yu Sheng, clearly becoming increasingly enthusiastic.
Unable to move, she began commenting on the events unfolding outside the door—
“That mountain is so tall! There's something glowing on the mountain. Can we go check it out someday?”
“The ocean! Such big fish!”
“Wow! All that snow, but why is it light blue… it doesn't look alive…”
“... It’s a toilet! Let's hurry away.”
“... You scared me! Is there a ghost?”
The doll didn’t stay quiet for even a moment, constantly commenting on anything that appeared outside the door.
Initially, Yu Sheng found it a bit noisy, yet gradually, Erin's incessant excitement became a source of amusement amidst the mundane "testing" process.
Then, right before he opened the door again, he suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.
It was like finally tuning an old-fashioned radio to a narrow frequency.
He sensed a passage he had previously opened—not that valley filled with hunger, but still a door he had certainly opened before.
Grasping that feeling with vigor, he allowed his "spiritual guidance" to lead him instinctively toward that familiar passage.
He cautiously swung the door open and looked across.
He saw flames flickering around the door frame.
In the distance, he noticed a grand, ancient hall with spiritual light swirling between its eaves and columns.
There stood a handsome young man in luxurious attire and an elder with a youthful appearance exuding an air of immortality.
The young man was being reprimanded by the old master while hanging from a roof beam.
The elder shouted with gusto, his voice clear as day: "You’ve trained with me for so many years and yet secretly cultivated in the demonic path! Explain yourself! Why was there a living head in your alchemy furnace? Do you realize you’ve harmed the innocent!?"
The handsome young man, twisting in distress while hanging, shouted back, "Master, this is a misunderstanding! I was just refining a regular Spirit-Preserving Pill! How would I know my little junior brother would see a person come out of the furnace… Ouch, don’t hit me, Master! It’s an injustice!"
The old master almost leapt in anger as he retorted, "Don't try to argue! I checked the furnace before; I even spotted a living spirit! There was indeed a living person in your furnace!"
Yu Sheng stood there, dumbfounded, and soon after saw a small figure dart into view beside the door—a familiar child holding a fan.
The kid, with wide eyes, looked toward Yu Sheng's side and then dashed toward the palace, shouting: “Master! Master! Big Brother’s furnace had another head popping out! It’s still the same one!”
The elder, with an air of immortality, pulled out a copper belt...
Though it might not have been a copper belt; it was too far to tell—only the young man’s terrified scream indicated that whatever it was, it was quite intimidating.
Yu Sheng slammed the door shut with a bang, his emotions a tangled mix of shock, excitement, and exhilaration.
After a long minute, he suddenly turned to Erin and exclaimed joyfully, “Erin! I did it! I did it!”
Startled, Erin responded, “Calm down! What do you mean you did it?”
“That passage just now was one I had opened before! I just controlled it and opened it again—this process is controllable! It can be reproduced!”
With renewed joy and excitement, Yu Sheng realized that he could manage that delicate "spiritual guidance," implying he could also control and reproduce any previously opened “door,” including that valley where Hu Li was located!
What he needed to do next was to figure out how to recall the “frequency” he sensed deep in his heart when he fell into that valley; even finding a similar frequency would suffice—he would exhaust every possibility until he found it!
Erin clearly caught the excitement from Yu Sheng, but surprisingly, she composed herself rather quickly this time.
She reminded him: “Uh, don’t you think you should explain the situation to the people on the other side of that door? The one hanging from the beam looks like he might be in serious trouble…”
Yu Sheng paused, realizing the gravity of that reminder.
Ultimately, each door he had opened before was random, so he wasn’t used to this controllable process where many things could happen.
After a moment, he reached for the door handle, hesitating for a brief moment.
Were the people on the other side reasonable? The elder exuded an aura of mystical wisdom… could he be the “immortal” Hu Li mentioned? But he didn’t seem like one who would run a travel agency—we might not even be from the same world.
If things went south, how could he, just an ordinary person, defend himself? Maybe he could only say something through the door? They shouldn’t be able to retaliate through it, right? After all, the last time he shut the door, the elder only sensed the “spiritual essence” without pursuing.
A flurry of tangled thoughts raced through Yu Sheng’s mind, and he finally gritted his teeth, narrowing his focus to try once more to lock onto the earlier frequency for opening the door.
After confirming several times, he cautiously opened it again.
The joy of success welled up within him as he managed to reproduce that passage once more—
The elder, with the air of immortality, was leading the beautifully dressed young man through radiant clouds from far away.
Yu Sheng made sure to keep his distance, boldly calling out, “It’s all a misunderstanding!”
In reaction, the young man nearly tumbled down from the cloud, crying out, “You can’t just play around like this! I didn’t mean any offense, esteemed one! Just let me know if I’ve wronged you!”
“I’m not at fault! I was just passing by!” Yu Sheng said honestly. “I didn’t know that was your alchemy furnace—it's a misunderstanding, a true misunderstanding.”
With that, he closed the door firmly.
He was genuinely afraid of what might come from the elder on the other side.
Turning back, Yu Sheng shared an incredulous gaze with Erin from the painting.
“... Do you think I explained myself clearly?”
Erin eagerly nodded, “I think you did just fine!”
“... But I feel a bit bad about it.”
“... It’s not likely to happen again. The world is big, right?”
“Mm, that’s a valid point.”
(End of Chapter)