Chapter 1144: The World Moves

Ma Shí'èr’s face was extraordinarily large, like a moving painting drifting across the sky, which scared Qiu Shíliù so much that her soul nearly fled her body.

Once that massive face vanished, Qiu Shíliù carefully examined the spot where it had appeared.

There seemed to be an arc-shaped hole there, allowing light from outside to filter through.

Qiu Shíliù thought it over carefully and recalled a faint clue, so she quickly turned back to find the spot where she had just emerged.

But that area was filled with numerous holes like scattered fragments, each one far apart and emitting bright light, resembling a multitude of glowing portals suspended in midair.

So, which hole had she crawled out from?

In other words… from this perspective, was Xuanwu’s body made up of doors of various shapes?

And all the attacks aimed at Xuanwu were rushing into those doors, dissipating into this vast space.

She wasn’t a solid entity at all; everyone’s assaults were like throwing things into an bottomless pit, incapable of harming Xuanwu in the slightest.

Qiu Shíliù used her not-so-sharp mind to quickly analyze the situation. Since the black areas on Xuanwu’s body didn’t appear constantly but only when she was attacked…

Does that mean the “doors” would keep generating endlessly…?

Gazing into the endless space, coupled with the infinite creation of doors, Qiu Shíliù immediately understood her current predicament.

Even if she triggered “Chi Yan” here, it would just be like a fleeting firework in the air, utterly incapable of harming Xuanwu.

What should I do now…?

Qiu Shíliù felt a bit anxious in her heart. Just as Su Shan had told her before entering this strange space, they might only have this one chance, and they could only send her alone while everyone else held off the enemy to buy time.

If she couldn’t make any contribution, the entire “Mao” would have no hope at all.

Fortunately, her anger was still far from reaching the level of self-ignition, so she should have some time left to explore.

Thinking of this, she shifted her position slightly in the air, only to discover that she couldn’t move properly.

She clearly remembered moving a distance earlier, but now, when she focused on “moving,” she was stuck in place.

Does even “moving” rely on subconscious intent…?

She stared at the distant door, channeling her focus entirely on it, letting her gaze be drawn only to that door. Soon, she heard a whooshing wind in her ears, and the door in her sight grew larger and larger, as if she were speeding toward it.

But Qiu Shíliù quickly noticed a broken tree not far from her side.

That tree was actually moving alongside her toward the distant door, as if perfectly parallel.

With a thought, she stopped, and the tree halted too, remaining parallel to her.

Then she looked at the distant door again, as if testing this bizarre space. When she felt herself starting to move once more, the tree nearby followed suit.

I move, and the tree moves?

I… I think I get it…

In this strange space, it wasn’t that she was moving quickly; rather, she was fixed in place while the entire space shifted according to her will, making the door appear closer.

The tree and she were both foreign objects in this space, so they were actually stationary; it was just the space that was moving.

This place is too hard to comprehend… Although Qiu Shíliù’s mind was full of questions, she knew she didn’t have enough time to figure everything out. She decided to ignore the floating tree in the air and continue moving toward the distance.

As she moved, Qiu Shíliù heard a sound from her right side. She turned to look and saw what seemed like a door in the distance flashing with the figures of Luo Shíyī and Ma Shí'èr, but the door vanished in an instant, too quick to see clearly.

How strange…

Qiu Shíliù felt she was just a step away from madness. In this bizarre space, she couldn’t even sense gravity, and she could only perform actions like turning around, while everything else depended on her will to make the whole space shift.

So, it wasn’t that she was moving; it was that the world was moving.

In the blink of an eye, the distant door flew right up to her.

It was a door, but it looked like nothing more than an oval-shaped hole emitting a dim light—one of the less noticeable ones. The reason she spotted it first was because it was close enough.

But as the door approached, Qiu Shíliù felt a surge of unknown fear once again.

What would she see after going through this door?

Would she still be in the “Zhongyan Zhidi”?

She opened her eyes wide and peered into the door, finding it quite dim inside, with vague grid-like shapes emerging.

She slowly extended her hand, reaching into the door, and felt a peculiar sensation on the other side. It had a completely different temperature and humidity from the space she was in, like dipping her hand into a room with the air conditioning on.

After thinking it over, she withdrew her hand and tried to grip the sides of the oval door, slowly poking her head through.

Instantly, she felt as if she had submerged into warm water, with a wave of heat on her face. Then, somewhat alarmed, she opened her eyes.

She discovered it was just an ordinary ruined house, with a slightly high temperature. The grid-like shapes she had seen from outside turned out to be the brick walls of the ruins.

The place looked like a rural house from the 70s or 80s—nothing fancy, just a stove for burning loose coal, with no proper furniture. Even the cooking stove was makeshift, built from bricks, though now it had collapsed.

Strangely, the building had no door; everywhere she looked were walls.

But soon, she realized that the direction she was facing was actually the entrance. However, the space was so odd that she didn’t dare venture fully into the ruins, fearing she might lose her way back.

Finding nothing else suspicious inside the ruins, Qiu Shíliù pulled her head back out.

If every door led to some strange room… what did that have to do with Xuanwu?

Could she really find a way to defeat Xuanwu here?

There are just too many doors…

Qiu Shíliù frowned as she scanned the vast expanse, with doors of all odd shapes nearby and countless more stretching out like a starry sea in the distance.

This disorienting feeling left Qiu Shíliù momentarily directionless, as time ticked away outside. What should she do now?

They’re buying time for me… I absolutely can’t back down here…