Zen was left with no choice but to pass through this passageway to go to the main world.
"I don't have to be afraid. I have the ancestry-level bloodline," he pronounced.
Kincaid remained silent beside him. It was Zen's own choice, so he had no say in it.
Hilario didn't stop him either. Of course, he hoped that Zen could bring the Heavenly Ring Staff back.
The curses cast on the human spirits from the Bold Conjecture House were done using the powers of
the Deep Space. The Heavenly Ring Staff could lift the curses and finally end their misery.
"Since you insist, our Bold Conjecture House has no objection." After saying that, Hilario nodded to the
human spirits behind him. The long-haired monsters stepped aside to make way for Zen.
Just then, a golden light flashed beside Kincaid. Out came Dorothy, also returning to the passageway.
Dorothy had arrived from the Pear Hill, where she had been staying with Yasamin.
She had hurried over when she heard that Zen was heading to the Abstruse Energy World alone.
"Zen, I'll go with you!" Dorothy called out.
Kincaid's face darkened when he heard that. "Stop messing around, Dora."
Dorothy glanced at him.
Kincaid was family, but he knew nothing about her life in the chaos.
Dorothy shook her head. "I'm not messing around. I'm your daughter and a human spirit, too. I would
probably be able to walk freely in the Abstruse Energy World!"
The warriors of the Bold Conjecture House, admittedly, had also been wondering if Dorothy had that
ability.
But they couldn't make any conclusions without a precedent.
"If you are still a creature of the main world, the rules of the main world could kill you. And if you aren't,
you would only be a liability to Zen. You cannot go!" Kincaid took a step forward and stood in Dorothy's
way.
"Dorothy, please," Zen pleaded, his face serious.
He knew how stubborn Dorothy was. Even Yasamin couldn't stop her, so it was less likely that Kincaid
and the human spirits of the Bold Conjecture House could change her mind.
Before Dorothy could move further, Hilario reached out his hand. An oval-shaped gem appeared on his
fluffy palm. The gem glowed, and at once, Dorothy felt dizzy and started to lose her balance.
Kincaid came forward and caught her as she slumped down. He turned to Zen and nodded for him to
go.
Zen followed Hilario straight to the end of the passageway where a rusty metal door stood shut. Zen
surmised it was not made of ordinary iron. He could sense it had been there for trillions of years, and
yet, it remained free of any erosion.
As he walked up to the door, Hilario started telling him about it. "We created this path when we were
trapped in the chaos. Although it is still in the Eternal Scroll Painting, it is actually a shortcut. You'd
have a better chance of evading the brush-wielder through here."
Hilario had speculated the brush-wielder was on the downgrader's side. Zen and Kincaid were inclined
to agree, based on the brush-wielder's actions so far.
Though it was only a speculation, it would be safer to avoid him.
With a curt nod to Hilario, Zen pulled the iron door open and stepped in.
The other side of the iron door looked like a void but felt more like a solid wall. As soon as Zen entered,
an irresistible force pressed him onto the wall until he had been flattened and emerged on the other
side as a two-dimensional figure.
Zen adapted to the transformation quicker now, having entered the Eternal Scroll Painting before.
"A straight road!"
Up ahead lay a path just as Hilario described. Those who took this road could pass through the Eternal
Scroll Painting without having to take its myriad tests.
Zen wasted no time. He scrambled onto the path quickly as if he was being chased.
It only took him half a minute to reach the end of the road.
But as he took another step forward, a new path appeared in front of him.
This puzzled Zen for a moment before he realized that this was probably the second page of the
Eternal Scroll Painting.
The Eternal Scroll Painting had a total of three pages, and he had to pass through them all.
He moved quickly onward. It wasn't long before he had passed through the second page, too, arriving
at the road on the third page.
Zen hurried on the path, looking forward to finally reaching the Eternal Divine Courtyard.
Halfway down the road, Zen could already spot the door drawn at the end.
It was wide open, just calling for him to enter!
He could feel his heart thumping in nervous anticipation, fervently hoping there would be no sudden
obstacles.
He got closer and closer to the door. He was only two or three steps away when a thick ink mark
appeared on the Eternal Scroll Painting.
The mark crossed the door out.
It was blocking Zen's entry!
Zen stopped in his tracks. His glowering looks were evident even in his two-dimensional state.
He couldn't read the brush-wielder's motives the last time they met, but he knew that this time would
definitely leave no room for doubt.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish!"
Four more thick ink marks appeared around Zen one after another, acting like a cage.
"Brush-wielder," Zen called out.
Zen couldn't see him in his current form, but he knew that the brush-wielder was looking down at him
from above the painting scroll.
A crying face appeared above Zen. "You didn't disappoint me. Finally, you opened the altar. You are
better than I thought," he said.
"Why are you stopping me, then?" Zen responded.
The crying face turned into a smiling one, but his voice remained somber. "Your task has already been
completed. There is no need for further trouble. So either go back to the chaos, or remain here."
Zen felt a hot flash of anger upon hearing this. He finally lashed out, "And do you think the downgrader
will give you what you want? When he created you, he told you the second-grade world, the Wall
World, was the most perfect, but it was all just a trick! He also said the same to the Four Spirits Sect
about the third-grade world, the Cinnabar race about the fourth-grade world, and the Sacred Spirit race
about the fifth-grade world!"
"I do not care. My long cherished wish is to expand the Wall World. This Eternal Scroll Painting is not
big enough," the brush-wielder said.
The Eternal Scroll Painting, in fact, was not the actual Wall World. Creatures in the Wall World could
not see their appearance as they were depicted on the scroll. Thus, the Eternal Scroll Painting was just
a simulation. But the brush-wielder wanted to make this simulation into reality.
"He won't stop even if the Wall World becomes what you wants it to be! He will still downgrade the Wall
World to the first-grade world, the World of Nothingness, and you will be destroyed in the end!" Zen
shouted.
This was obvious to Zen. He couldn't understand why the brush-wielder, with all that he had seen,
couldn't figure this out.
But the brush-wielder could not be reasoned with. "Even if it eventually becomes a first-grade world, at
least the Wall World will last for the next decades. It is enough for me. The third-grade world has
existed for so long. I will see to it the Wall World exists longer. There would be more second-grade
world creatures inhabiting the Wall World, and the entire Wall World will be more prosperous!" the
brush-wielder insisted, clinging fervently to blind faith.
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