He dared not utter inauspicious words.
He also knew that his fourth brother would undoubtedly go through with it.
But he was still scared—scared that if his fourth brother went over there, what if he couldn't come back? Being left all alone, what kind of feeling would that be? Chen Shaohu didn't dare imagine.
"Don't worry."
"I can come back with just a thought. My body is still here."
Seeing his little brother rare to show such attachment and reluctance, Chen Jichuan felt a warmth in his heart and comforted him gently.
Chen Shaohu was not someone clueless.
Noticing that his fourth brother had to console him instead, his face flushed. He turned and took two steps toward the cave entrance: "Fourth Brother, just go without worries. I'll stay outside and make sure no one harms you."
Chen Jichuan smiled.
He lay down under the quilt.
...
[Do you wish to expend one thousand units of Source Power to unfold a new world?]
[Yes.]
The Green Lotus Jade Pendant emitted a thousand threads of silver, which danced and integrated into the tightly held flower bud, vanishing without a trace.
Meanwhile, the delicate flower bud, moist and radiant, instantly bloomed visibly to the naked eye, transforming into a green lotus shrouded in faint mist. Within, twenty-four silver threads swayed—this was all the Source Power Chen Jichuan had left.
The bloom reveals me.
At that moment——
In the center of the green lotus, a tiny figure emerged from nothingness, completely bare.
Looking closer, the little figure had familiar facial features, its pale white skin appearing as if it hadn't seen the sun for years. The body looked grotesque, with a hunched back and bent posture, making it appear short and stunted.
Its hands were covered in thick calluses.
Years of toil had left it weathered and aged.
Chen Jichuan gazed, utterly absorbed.
He recognized this "person," his heart a swirling mix of emotions, bittersweet and indescribable—
"I…."
"How did I become such a wretched sight?!"
Chen Jichuan stared at the little figure.
He recognized it.
It was him.
However, due to spending years in the Black Prison, the black grease from the Iron-repellent Ore had masked his face, and apart from his reflection in the stream, he hadn't had a full-length mirror to see himself. The sudden appearance of this tiny figure rendered his own image unfamiliar.
It was a mixture of realization and speculation.
Only now did he "recognize" himself.
This was the first time he had seen this disfigured and battered body so clearly in this lifetime.
It was as he had imagined.
No.
It was even uglier, even worse than he had thought!
"Did it replicate my physical body from reality?"
Chen Jichuan sensed the information, unable to bear looking any longer, and with a thought, he entered the otherworld.
...
[Ding!]
[You have entered a new world; detection underway….]
[Detection complete.]
[Current world and Master World time-flow ratio: 400:1]
[Master descended in progress, 5…4…3…2…1]
Thought directs the lotus.
The world spins and shifts.
Chen Jichuan opened his eyes and found himself standing on a dirt road compacted from loess.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Strong winds whipped up clouds of dust, leaving him grimy and dirt-smeared.
Chen Jichuan wasn't annoyed but delighted instead.
"400:1."
"That's fantastic!"
He was most desperate for time, and to his surprise, as if handed a pillow just as sleep beckoned, the first world he unlocked came with such a massive time differential.
Four hundred to one.
What does that mean?
It means that even if Chen Jichuan spent a year here, less than a day would pass in reality. This was even more exaggerated than the mythical "a day in heaven equals a year on earth."
Chen Jichuan was ecstatic.
"With this ratio."
"Even if all 400 miners died within ten days to half a month, I'd still have at least ten years to respond."
Chen Jichuan grinned from ear to ear.
The tension in his mind eased slightly.
For the first time, he allowed himself a moment to take in his surroundings. As he swept his gaze around, his heart filled with further joy, layered with deep sentiment.
Six years had passed.
In the Black Prison, shrouded in perpetual mist and dimness, dampness and darkness were the dominant themes. The chill in the air was constant; no dust ever stirred. Thus, upon seeing the windswept, sand-laden expanse, Chen Jichuan experienced a sense of disorientation, as though separated across lifetimes.
The sun shone brightly overhead.
Flowers smiled in their bloom.
Sunlight poured down.
It warmed Chen Jichuan's body, dispersing much of the gloom buried deep within his heart. He tilted his head up, shielding his eyes with one hand, and through his fingers, saw the blazing sun above and the gentle drifting clouds below.
He was momentarily entranced.
...
Lingnan Road.
Langning Mansion Prefecture City.
It was September, the weather stiflingly hot. A few sluggish soldiers manned the city gates, extracting a few copper coins from small merchants and farmers bringing goods and vegetables into the city to buy themselves tea.
Chen Jichuan wore short garb.
He carried no cargo on his shoulders. The few soldiers glanced at him and didn't bother further.
As he advanced along the official road, the closer he got to Langning City, the more travelers crowded the path. But to find true bustling activity, he had to enter the city proper.
Chen Jichuan walked without hesitation, striding confidently into the city.
Like Granny Liu visiting the Grand View Garden for the first time, his eyes darted this way and that, unable to take in enough sights, drifting wherever the crowds thickened.
Not because he craved excitement.
The lush greenery and fragrant grass outside the city, the chirping birds and buzzing insects….
Such beauty, unseen after six long years in the Black Prison, Chen Jichuan could easily forgo. How then could he be overwhelmed merely by chaotic human noise within the city?
Though entranced by this world entirely different from the Black Prison.
In his heart, he remained mindful—his true body in reality still faced impending crises, with his younger brother Chen Shaohu waiting for him.
Even with the four-hundredfold time differential, Chen Jichuan allotted himself only three to five glances' worth of indulgence. Beyond that, he had to refocus and urgently seek ways to enhance his strength and escape the Black Prison.
True, he moved toward denser crowds partly to gather as much information as possible.
Given the differences in worlds, language barriers rendered him unable to understand the people's conversations here.
Fortunately.
With a flash of insight, he thought of 'Creation·Insight.' The Insight Skill, reputed to perceive spacetime and causality, couldn't possibly be limited to tangible items like travelers or Spirit Stones alone.
So he attempted to gain insight into the language the people spoke here.
This attempt revealed that the Insight Skill was far more than just a combination of 'Identification Skill' and 'Investigation Skill'—it practically functioned as a built-in translator.
Though the translation was only one-way.