Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest-Chapter 653 - Wormhole

Chapter 653 -653 Wormhole

The elderly prison guard took another sip of wine.

He changed from taking big gulps to cautious sips, and by the careful look on his face, it seemed as if he feared finishing the wine in his glass in one breath.

Then he sighed both long and short breaths, filled with an indescribable wistfulness.

Wang Chen watched, quite puzzled, “Senior, although this Spiritual Wine is good, you can afford it, can’t you?”

Originating from habits developed in a past life, and etched into his very genes, Wang Chen liked to stockpile supplies in his Sumeru Ring.

Spirit Rice, Spiritual Wine, and Monster Meat—he always kept a large stash of them, which made him feel confident when traveling outside.

...

Indeed, his approach of being prepared for a rainy day had proven correct.

Although Wang Chen was quite well-off, he wouldn’t spend too much on Spirit Food and drinks. The Secretly Brewed Spirit Flower Wine that he treated the old prison guard to was indeed quite valuable, but an ordinary Cultivator could still afford it if they gritted their teeth.

It felt like the other party was exaggerating a bit.

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“Do you know how many years I’ve stayed here?”

The old prison guard glanced sideways at Wang Chen, revealing the answer himself, “Forty-eight years!”

Before Wang Chen could respond, the guard muttered to himself, “Forty-eight years… I haven’t stepped out of the Demon Den for a single step, having seen off many demons and specters as well as colleagues, yet I haven’t managed to see myself off.”

Wang Chen fell silent.

He hadn’t expected that this old prison guard had been working in the Demon Den for such a long time!

This probably wasn’t just a matter of luck anymore.

“Then do you know why I’ve been able to live up to now?”

The old prison guard turned his head to look at Wang Chen, a faint glimmer in his murky eyes, “I’ve used all of my salary to buy top-quality Meridian Opening Pills!”

The Meridian Opening Pill was a special pill used to ward off Yin Sha Energy. Originally, when Wang Chen was in Yongle Dungeon, he would receive three bottles every month.

He had never used them.

But in the eyes of the old prison guard, the Meridian Opening Pill was more important than any Spirit Food or Spiritual Materials!

To survive, he had to eat more of them.

If one wasn’t enough, then two; if two weren’t sufficient, then add another.

The old prison guard had managed to endure nearly fifty years by relying on these pills!

Of course, the Meridian Opening Pill definitely wasn’t the sole reason he had survived up until now—after all, the criminals incarcerated in the Demon Den were no easy foes, and a slight lack of caution could lead to being dragged into the abyss.

Consequently, he didn’t have any extra Spirit Stones to spend in the city.

For other Demon Den prison guards, a day off each month was like a festival, and they felt compelled to spend some Spirit Stones to make it fulfilling; otherwise, their mood for the entire year would be affected.

Some guards spent all their Spirit Stones in the Soul-Consuming Den, adopting the philosophy of ‘drink today for today we have wine,’ while others gave their salary to their families, ensuring that even if they ended up dead in a ditch, at least their belongings wouldn’t be wasted on strangers.

They all harbored the notion that they were fated to die.

However, the old prison guard was different; he had a clear purpose and was willing to persist and strive for it.

That was to stay alive.

“Young Wang, you must live well,” the old prison guard finally said with profound meaning, “You are still young, and this path is long and far-reaching. Occasionally encountering a setback, you will also safely get through it.”

Wang Chen nodded silently.

For the next two days, he continued to follow the old prison guard up and down, back and forth throughout the Demon Den.

Each day they took a different route.

With time, the real map of the Demon Den began to piece together in Wang Chen’s Sea of Consciousness.

The old prison guard led Wang Chen through every Array node in the caverns, patrolled each cell, and informed Wang Chen of the basic information of the demons and specters locked up in these jails.

The time for the old guard to retire had arrived.

Wang Chen felt somewhat reluctant, “Thank you, senior!”

“It’s what I should do,” the old prison guard waved his hand and said, “I’m also lucky to have met you. I hope there will be a next time when we can see each other.”

“Eh?”

Wang Chen’s gaze suddenly sharpened as he reached out to grab the old prison guard’s arm and flew backward.

Since it happened so abruptly, Wang Chen’s reaction was pure instinct, so he didn’t notice the old prison guard’s eyes twitching at the moment he made his move.

The guard’s eyes suddenly turned fierce!

However, this scene lasted for less than a breath’s time. Behind where the old prison guard had been standing, just two or three steps away on the rock wall, a seven-foot square hole abruptly appeared.

This hole emerged without any warning, and it was so dark inside that even the sunlight from outside was absorbed!

“This is a wormhole.”

The old prison guard, who had come to his senses, also changed his complexion, “We need to get out of here fast!”

In the lower three levels of the Yongle Dungeon and the Demon Den, similar black holes would appear from time to time,

Some people said they were wormholes dug out by the digging worms, and although this was later proven false, the name “wormhole” stuck and has been used ever since.

The old prison guard stood not far from the wormhole, his expression one of deep concern!

Wormholes were rare, but he had seen several before.

And nothing good ever came from encountering them!

It was said that wormholes were created by Void Worms and that entering one could transport you to another world.

Void Worms existed in the Void, occasionally “dropping” into the immortal realms.

That was what made a wormhole.

Under normal circumstances, a wormhole would disappear as the Void Worm left, so as long as one was careful, there wasn’t much danger.

“I have to go.”

The old prison guard said with lingering fear, “Young Wang, you’ll have to walk the rest of this path on your own. If you ever make something of yourself outside, don’t forget your old big brother here.”

Wang Chen smiled, “Don’t worry!”

After the old prison guard had left, Wang Chen didn’t immediately leave.

His eyes turned toward the nearby wormhole.

The next moment, Wang Chen flicked a Spirit Stone with his finger, and it shot toward the center of the wormhole like lightning.

The Spirit Stone traced a faint light in the air and was instantly swallowed by the darkness of the wormhole.

It didn’t stir the slightest ripple.

Honestly, Wang Chen was very curious about this so-called wormhole and really wanted to investigate it thoroughly.

Run into it and see if it really led to another world.

However, these crazy ideas were forcefully suppressed by Wang Chen’s strong self-control.

After one last look at the wormhole, his figure instantly disappeared from the spot.

Wang Chen thought that encountering a wormhole was just a chance event,

but only two days passed before he discovered another wormhole of roughly the same size.

This wormhole appeared in a side passage, and there were no other cultivators around, allowing Wang Chen to closely observe and look for the problem within it.

But after studying it for a long time, he couldn’t come up with any explanation.

It felt like a bug in the Haotian Realm, something that wouldn’t normally be seen, but in a special place like the Demon Den, it would brazenly appear.

Due to limited time, Wang Chen didn’t continue to watch.

In the following days, he discovered new wormholes again.

But he was no longer surprised by them.

Moreover, Wang Chen heard from other prison guards’ casual conversations that he was not the only one who had discovered wormholes.

The same kind of black holes were scattered in different locations of the Demon Den.

——

The first update is here.