281: Chapter 216: The Cave Heaven Opens, and the Turbulent Flows of Time and Space Reveal Danger

Xinghai University, deep within the Secret Realm Management Office, Teleportation Hall No. 749.

This place was starkly different from the usual bustling public teleportation zones. The hall was vast and solemn; its walls and floor were composed of a dark metal capable of absorbing energy fluctuations, inscribed with dense, dizzyingly complex runes for spatial stabilization and isolation. The ceiling was transparent, yet it did not reflect the outside world; instead, it flowed with shifting, Chaos-colored energy streams like an aurora—an external energy barrier maintaining the stability of the high-dimensional channel.

The air was thick with a faint scent of ozone mixed with ancient dust, and a pervasive, subtle spatial tremor served as a reminder of the extraordinary dangers involving the Law level here.

Lin Zhou, Zhao Hao, Wang Meng, Li Mo, and Qin Qing, dressed in exploration attire suited for action, stood on the teleportation platform in the center of the hall. The platform itself was a circular area about ten meters in diameter, paved with pure Void Crystals and inlaid with twelve fist-sized Space Anchoring Stones that emitted a soft silver glow.

Floating before them was that Legendary-quality [Unnamed Grotto-Heaven Exploration Voucher]. At this moment, the token—neither metal nor jade—was trembling slightly. The purple mist swirling on its surface had become exceptionally active, and the phantoms of mountains, rivers, and stars upon it seemed to come alive, resonating with the Chaos energy flow from the hall's ceiling.

The head of the Secret Realm Management Office, a Grey-robed Elder with a stern expression and an obscure, difficult-to-fathom aura (at least Mid-Tier Divine Power), was performing a final check on the teleportation array's parameters.

“Coordinates locked, fluctuation frequency match at 91.7%, meeting the minimum threshold for safe transmission.” The Grey-robed Elder's voice was dry, like metal scraping against metal. “The channel is a one-time, one-way stable channel, theoretically maintained for thirty seconds. After entering, you have thirty natural days. At that time, regardless of where you are in the Grotto-Heaven—as long as you are not trapped in an absolute rule-lock or a space-time paradox zone—the return beacon built into the exploration voucher will automatically activate, opening a return channel at your current position for a maximum of ten seconds. If you miss it, you can only wait for the next external active retrieval—which requires at least a great divine power to act, and the success rate is less than thirty percent. Understood?”

“Understood,” Lin Zhou replied on behalf of the team, his expression calm.

“Very well. Final confirmation: does the carried equipment comply with the provisions of Chapter Three of the High-Risk Secret Realm Exploration Management Regulations? Are there any taboo items that might trigger unknown rule chain reactions?” The elder's sharp gaze swept over the five of them.

“It complies with the regulations; there are no taboo items,” Lin Zhou confirmed again. The son of heaven sword fragments had undergone preliminary tempering, their auras were restrained, and they were themselves “Materials” rather than “finished taboo objects,” falling within the permitted range of the regulations.

The Grey-robed Elder said no more. Stepping behind the console, he pressed his hands onto two protruding rune balls and began chanting low, obscure incantations. The spatial tremors in the hall suddenly intensified. The Chaos energy flow at the ceiling, as if stirred by an invisible hand, began to converge and rotate toward the center, forming a slowly expanding vortex with distorted light and shadows inside.

Simultaneously, the exploration voucher in Lin Zhou’s hand flared with purple light and flew up automatically, hovering above their heads. It shot out a straight pillar of purple light, precisely docking with the center of the ceiling's vortex!

Buzz—!!!

A low rumble echoed from all directions—not a sound, but the wailing of the Law as the spatial structure was forcibly pried and stretched! The twelve Space Anchoring Stones around the teleportation platform simultaneously erupted with blinding silver light, turning into twelve thick ropes of light that firmly “held” the space where the platform resided, preventing it from being torn apart or dragged away by the immense force of the channel opening.

“Channel stability 68%... 71%... 75%... reached the critical point! Now, go!” the Grey-robed Elder suddenly barked.

“Go!” Lin Zhou shouted. Without hesitation, he was the first to step into the distorted light gate, about two meters in diameter, formed by the connection of the purple light pillar and the Chaos vortex. Zhao Hao, Wang Meng, Li Mo, and Qin Qing followed closely behind, their figures instantly swallowed by the surging Chaos-colored light.

At the very last moment, Lin Zhou looked back and saw the Grey-robed Elder's solemn gaze and several energy readings on the console that had instantly spiked into the red.

...

The moment they entered the channel, it was not the smooth teleportation they had imagined.

First to hit was an unparalleled sense of weightlessness and directional disorientation. The concepts of up, down, left, and right completely failed here; their bodies felt as if they had been thrown into a crazily spinning kaleidoscope. Every inch of flesh and every strand of Divine Thought endured spatial tearing forces from different directions. Had the five of them not been True Gods whose Divine Bodies had undergone preliminary tempering by rules, and had they not taken Divine Soul-stabilizing potions in advance, they likely would have fainted or even suffered Divine Body damage immediately.

Next came the violent, lawless energy turbulence. The Chaos-colored channel walls were not solid but composed of countless violent spatial fragments, broken Law threads, and Chaos energy of unknown nature. Like the most dangerous undercurrents of the deep sea, they surged from all directions without warning. Some of these turbulences carried extreme cold, instantly condensing rule frost on the surface of their Divine Bodies (reducing agility and Divine Power circulation speed); some were incredibly hot, as if they could scorch the Soul; others contained a bizarre “dissolving” attribute, continuously eroding their protective Divine Power.

“Maintain formation! Wang Meng, Qin Qing, outer defense! Li Mo, prepare the stabilization device! Zhao Hao, watch the top... no, watch the energy flow!” Lin Zhou suppressed his discomfort, turning his Divine Thought into commands transmitted to his teammates through the pre-established Soul link (which was more stable than ordinary communication). His Fire of Civilization circulated within his body, emitting a warm, inclusive power as he struggled to calm the surrounding disordered rule fluctuations and share the pressure with his teammates.

Wang Meng gave a low roar as the phantom of a Behemoth Giant Beast flashed behind him. A heavy, earthy yellow halo with a primeval aura expanded, enveloping himself and the nearby Qin Qing and Li Mo to withstand the physically impactful energy turbulence. Qin Qing deployed her [Order Barrier]; the pale golden light of Law formed a hemispherical shield, covering the core area of the five and doing its best to smooth the rule disturbances within range and purify the turbulence carrying mental erosion.

A Dragon shadow coiled around Zhao Hao, and his Dragon Might Domain opened slightly, interfering with the approaching energy streams. Meanwhile, his sharp Dragon Pupil stared fixedly at the ever-changing channel ahead, trying to find a relatively stable “path.”

Li Mo was the busiest. His face was somewhat pale; clearly, this environment placed an immense mental load on him. However, his hands moved rapidly, and three rare space cards he had prepared long ago were instantly activated and thrown out!

[Directional Space Anchor (Blue)] x2: These turned into two silver shuttle-shaped streaks of light, shooting out to the left and right to nail into the violent channel walls. They briefly (estimated three seconds) created two tiny “stable anchors,” pulling at the small patch of space where the team was located to reduce the tearing force.

[Sub-Space Bubble Generator (Purple)] x1: This precious Epic card exploded under Li Mo’s precise control, forming a relatively flexible, transparent spatial bubble about five meters in diameter that enveloped the five of them. The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the spatial bubble temporarily mitigated some of the direct impact from the energy turbulence and provided a thin but critical spatial partition.

The consumption of three precious cards bought a valuable moment of respite. The Chaos around the team significantly decreased by about 4%.

“The channel structure is extremely unstable! It’s even worse than the worst-case estimate!” Li Mo’s urgent voice rang out in the Soul link, data streaming across his glasses like a waterfall. “Probes show we are passing through a high-intensity ‘Space-Time Fold Zone.’ The space here is like crumpled paper, and the flow of time is also showing slight disorder! My stabilization measures can only last another fifteen seconds at most! We must accelerate through!”

“Accelerate!” Lin Zhou made a split-second decision, burning his Divine Power as the Fire of Civilization laid out a pale golden “guide path” that slightly smoothed the Chaos, and he was the first to charge forward. The others also used their own means to follow closely behind.

However, just as they had rushed some distance and the channel ahead seemed to become slightly straighter—

Boom!!!

Without warning, the seemingly calm channel wall ahead collapsed inward and rotated, forming a massive Space-Time Turbulence vortex flickering with countless broken light shadows and black lightning! The suction of this vortex was terrifying, instantly tearing Li Mo’s barely maintained spatial bubble to shreds. The two [Directional Space Anchors] also flashed wildly with silver light, looking as if they were about to be ripped away!

Even more fatal was the “disorientation” coming from the center of the vortex that made one’s Soul shudder—it was an effect produced by the severe distortion of both the Laws of time and space! Lin Zhou felt his thoughts seemingly splitting into countless parts, each corresponding to himself at a different point in time; Zhao Hao’s Dragon Pupil saw countless overlapping versions of himself performing different actions; Wang Meng felt half of his body aging rapidly while the other half was reverting; Qin Qing’s Order Barrier fluctuated violently, its light of Law flickering; Li Mo even let out a muffled groan, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth as his logical thinking suffered a direct hit in the face of this pure “disorder”!

“Oh no! It’s a large-scale Space-Time Vortex!” Li Mo forced himself to steady his mind and shouted hoarsely, “We can’t fight it head-on! We must bypass it or forcibly stabilize it!”

Bypass? The surrounding channel walls were equally violent, and the vortex's suction range was immense.

Stabilize? That would require even more powerful spatial stabilization means!

In the moment of crisis, Lin Zhou’s eyes turned sharp. He no longer held back, fully activating the Fire of Civilization! This time, it was no longer gentle and nurturing but revealed its heavy side of “smelting all Laws” and “bearing history”!

“river of civilization, suppress!”

With a low shout, a phantom of a pale golden river, illusory yet incredibly solid, surged out from behind Lin Zhou. It was not an attack but acted like an exceptionally tough “bond” or “riverbed,” forcibly spanning across between the Space-Time Vortex and the team! Within the river of civilization phantom, countless scenes of civilizations, scripts, and sparks of wisdom surfaced and flickered. They might not possess powerful spatial strength themselves, but that “sense of historical weight” and the “predetermined trajectory of civilizational evolution” formed a conceptual counter and soothing effect against the chaotic “Space-Time Turbulence”!

In the face of the river of civilization representing orderly evolution, the destructive power of the chaotic space-time was subtly weakened and partially diverted. Although the vortex's suction was still terrifying, it was no longer so irresistible, and the sense of space-time disorientation within it was partially offset by the concept of “linearity of time” flowing within the river phantom.

“Now! Li Mo, stabilize at maximum power! Everyone else, charge through with me!” Lin Zhou felt his Divine Power pouring out like a floodgate opening, but he gritted his teeth and maintained the river of civilization phantom.

Li Mo seized this fleeting opportunity. A look of pain at the loss flashed in his eyes, but his movements did not hesitate. He actually pulled out two more bottom-of-the-trunk life-saving cards—[Void Calibration Stone (Purple)] and [Hourglass of Time (Pseudo) (Blue)]! Both were precious items involving time and space, worth a fortune!

He hurled the [Void Calibration Stone] toward the edge of the vortex, where it exploded into a blinding silver-white light, forcibly “defining” a temporary coordinate in the Chaos and greatly disrupting the vortex's own spatial structure.

The [Hourglass of Time (Pseudo)] released a pale grey Domain of slowed time. Although the effect was weak and the range small, combined with Lin Zhou’s river of civilization, it further weakened the time turbulence at the vortex's core.

“Charge!!!”

Taking advantage of the moment the vortex was briefly interfered with and its suction greatly reduced, Lin Zhou took the lead. Along the “relatively stable zone” forcibly opened by the river of civilization phantom, he charged like a fish swimming against the current, surging past the most dangerous edge of the vortex! Zhao Hao followed as a Dragon shadow, Wang Meng carried Qin Qing (who maintained the Order Barrier to protect everyone), and Li Mo was held by Wang Meng’s other hand. The five of them narrowly brushed past the edge of the all-consuming Chaos and made it through!

Just as they rushed past the vortex and the channel ahead seemed to be reaching its end—with a hazy, stable light coming into view—Lin Zhou caught a fleeting glimpse in the aftermath of the Space-Time Turbulence.

Through the gaps in the broken light and shadow that had not yet fully settled, he seemed to “see” a distant corner inside the Grotto-Heaven beyond the channel!

It was not a concrete scene but an extremely blurred yet Soul-shaking “imagery”:

Endless broken fragments of land floating in the dark Void Realm.

And on the largest fragment stood a continuous range of incredibly ancient and magnificent yet completely ruined palace complexes. The scale of those broken walls and crumbling pillars was beyond imagination; a single collapsed pillar was comparable to a mountain!

At the very front of the palace complexes, a section of a broken giant monument that seemed to connect heaven and earth stood in the ruins like a silent tombstone. The monument was covered in illegible patterns that nonetheless carried an immense majesty and a sense of pathos. Just a fleeting glimpse made one’s Soul shudder, as if facing the final moment of a glorious civilization's sudden fall!

This scene lasted for less than a tenth of a second in his perception before being submerged by more turbulence and light shadows.

But the shock of that moment was deeply imprinted in the minds of Lin Zhou and the other four.

“What was that just now...” Zhao Hao’s voice carried an unbelievable tremor.

“Inside the Grotto-Heaven...” Qin Qing whispered, the light of her Order Barrier swaying slightly.

There was no time for deep thought as the light ahead rapidly enlarged and the turbulence of the channel suddenly eased.

“The exit is here! Prepare for landing!” Lin Zhou suppressed the waves in his heart and reminded them in a deep voice.

Buzz!

The five of them felt their bodies lighten as the suffocating spatial tearing and energy turbulence instantly vanished. The scene before them changed from a bizarre and kaleidoscopic channel to an unknown world that was dim, silent, and filled with a faint grey mist.

Their feet met solid ground—rough, cold, and carrying an indescribable sense of the accumulation of ages.

They had successfully entered the [Chaos-749-Unknown] Grotto-Heaven.

However, before they could observe their surroundings or check their own status, a deep sense of fatigue and weakness swept over them.

Forcing their way through the high-intensity Space-Time Turbulence zone, especially dealing with that Space-Time Vortex at the end, had consumed a massive amount of Divine Power and mental energy.

Lin Zhou roughly estimated that just from that short journey through the channel, each of their Divine Power reserves had been depleted by nearly twenty percent on average! And that was just the energy consumption; the mental fatigue and minor trauma (especially for Li Mo) would take more time to recover.

After landing, the five of them almost instinctively formed a defensive formation back-to-back. Qin Qing’s Order Barrier shrank in range but became more solid; Wang Meng and Zhao Hao scanned the surroundings warily; Li Mo forced himself to start quickly deploying miniature reconnaissance mechanisms; and Lin Zhou, while regulating his breath, slowly extended his Fire of Civilization perception outward to probe for the first traces of information in this deathly silent world.

Behind them, the channel entrance that had cost a great price to open flickered a few times after they had all exited, then silently annihilated into the grey mist like a bubble, leaving no trace.

They were now completely situated within this civilization graveyard, forgotten by time and fraught with danger.

The exploration had only just begun.