At the edge of the forest, Grandpa Blind looked grave, leaning on his cane to rest. Butcher swung his saber, surrounded by shifting, layered spaces—each fold bizarre and uncanny. With every change, the scenery around them transformed: sometimes a vast forest, sometimes a blazing desert, sometimes surging waves, and sometimes the starry sky itself rushing toward them.
Each time the space shifted, a different divine ban erupted. Hidden within those folds, the power of god-level prohibitions flared, forcing Butcher to clash head-on with their sudden onslaught.
Butcher roared, "Grandpa Blind, Granny Sue, my back's about to snap! Are you two done resting yet?"
Grandpa Blind sighed, "I'm getting old. My bones aren't what they used to be. Let me rest a little longer."
"I'm not any younger than you!"
Butcher grumbled, "And my lower half just got stitched back on—it hasn't even set yet! If I keep fighting, my top and bottom halves will split right in front of you!"
Grandpa Blind drawled, "Granny Sue's younger. Let her take a turn."
From Granny Sue's mouth came an aged, masculine voice, sneering, "Though I am strong, this lady's body can't hold out much longer. Mistress, let me take over..."
"Get lost!" Granny Sue snapped.
Butcher and Grandpa Blind exchanged odd looks. Granny Sue's 'illness' was getting worse. Ever since she found them, they'd run into danger after danger, and Tyson Li kept bursting out, seizing control of Granny Sue's body.
"The demon-seed keeps getting stronger. Granny Sue's bound to be replaced by Tyson Li sooner or later."
The space around them kept shifting, as if some god were rolling dice—each face representing a different divine ban. They were trapped inside the die itself: whichever face turned up, that ban would erupt. Only, this die didn't have six faces—it had one hundred and eight.
This time, the die turned to the 'starfield' face. Suddenly, the ground vanished beneath their feet, and their bodies hung suspended in an endless, boundless starry sky—touching neither earth nor heaven.
But those sparkling stars weren't true stars at all; they were mirrors—countless mirrors shining with brilliant light. Suddenly, beams from all the mirrors converged, humming as they blasted toward the group.
Butcher roared, swinging his saber through the thin line between life and death—splitting the deadly divine light. The split beams howled past them front and back, leaving only the ground beneath their feet safe for now.
Granny Sue called out urgently, "Deaf! Deaf! Get over here!"
On the far side of the starfield, Deaf's brush danced like lightning, dueling the stars themselves. Grandpa Blind said, "Deaf can't hear you..."
Before he finished speaking, Deaf tried to fly toward them—only to be struck by a beam of starlight, sent flying who knows where.
"Butcher, take a break—my turn!" came Tyson Li's voice from Granny Sue's mouth.
Butcher immediately stepped back. Granny Sue advanced, circulating the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra, watching the shifting space with caution.
Not only were the three of them trapped by this folded space ban—Deaf, Grandpa Mark, and Crippled Joe were also caught, each on a different face of the die, making it nearly impossible for them to gather together.
When Granny Sue arrived and saw Grandpa Blind and Butcher trapped, she tried to break the formation—only to be caught herself. Deaf came searching and also got swept into the space ban while trying to break it.
"This spatial ban has 108 faces of divine prohibition, but its core isn't among those faces."
Grandpa Blind stood up, his Heart-Sight clear as a mirror, looking in all directions. "We're inside a god's die. Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe are on other faces, and sometimes they end up on the same face as us. Deaf occasionally gets thrown into this subspace too. That means the array has been running so long, its calculations are starting to drift."
He calculated mentally, deducing, then suddenly raised his brows. "The god who set up this spatial ban only calculated the decimals to a certain moment, not to the smallest possible value! If this divine ban keeps running, it'll eventually collapse on its own!"
The space ban shifted into a volcanic scene—divine fire roared like dragons, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled. Granny Sue fought to hold out, and Tyson Li's voice came from her mouth: "So how long until this formation collapses?"
Grandpa Blind calculated and replied, "Twenty-four thousand years."
"Shut up, Blind!" Butcher barked, wishing he could cut him down with a single slash.
Just then, a voice from outside called, "Kid, six of your elders are trapped in here."
Inside, everyone was startled, looking out but seeing nothing.
Grandpa Blind tensed up, shouting, "Quinn, don't come in! You can't withstand the power of the divine ban!"
Quinn's voice replied from outside, "Demon King, do you have a way to break the formation and rescue them?"
"This kind of spatial ban uses space matrix secret art, folding 109 spaces into 108 cross-sections. It looks like 108, but there are actually 109."
The voice outside continued, "But the god who set up the space matrix secret art must've cut corners and didn't calculate to infinite decimals, leaving a flaw. After twenty-four thousand years it'll break down on its own. But if we find the 109th space, it's easy to break. Hold on, let me calculate..."
Inside the ban, Granny Sue, Butcher, and the others exchanged glances. "Quinn's companion is impressive—he saw through the array's secret in one look, way more reliable than Grandpa Blind."
After a moment, the voice outside said again, "Do you have any unused treasures? Something sturdy. I'll throw it into the 109th space. With an extra gear in there, the mechanism will jam, and the array will break itself."
Quinn's voice came, "I picked this up from Loulan Golden Palace. Will it work?"
"Oh, that's a fine treasure. You can just pick up something like this—your luck really is against heaven. No wonder I can't calculate you, kid, it's not that I'm incompetent, it's that your luck is out of this world."
...
As they spoke, Granny Sue and the others saw a luminous pearl fly past, growing larger as it went. Inside the pearl were mountains and rivers, like a complete world—towering peaks and endless waterfalls.
The pearl streaked across the sky before them, swelling into a colossal shape. Its round sky brimmed with mountains and rivers, then vanished beyond the horizon.
"Be careful, breaking the ban will be a wild ride," the voice outside warned.
No sooner had he finished speaking than a violent tremor surged from the depths of space. Layer after layer collapsed, earth, water, wind, and fire raging wildly, sweeping everything up. The power of the divine bans shattered, terrifying energy erupting everywhere!
The trapped group hastily summoned their yuanqi, unleashing their strongest defenses to withstand the rampage. Luckily, the energy wasn't aimed directly at them, just bursting out all around—they could just barely hold out.
If it had targeted them, they'd have been blown to bits!
Quinn stood before a forest—suddenly, the whole woods turned to ash as a surging shockwave swept through, erasing every tree and grinding them to dust.
With a thud, four figures appeared out of thin air and slammed into the ground, gouging deep pits.
Quinn shook his head. "Old as you are, you're still a handful..."
"Crippled Joe, dodge!" someone shouted.
Deaf's voice rang out—he crashed down headfirst from midair, landing right on top of Crippled Joe, who groaned beneath him.
Buddha-light blazed in midair; a giant Buddha descended, golden springs bubbling from the earth, lotus blossoms blooming in the pools. The Buddha lowered his legs, feet resting on the lotus, and slowly descended.
The lotus and golden springs faded, the Buddha vanished, transforming into an old man in green—Grandpa Mark. His robe was a bit tattered, but compared to the others, he looked almost dignified.
The group got to their feet, exchanging glances. Somehow, they'd actually survived the space array, though each was battered and bruised—but at least not fatally wounded.
They looked up to see Quinn standing nearby, the Oldridge Village youth still shaking his head as if disappointed at how unreliable they'd become with age.
In front of Quinn stood the smug mechanical idol—the Nethervault Demon King—eight arms on hips, bristling like a lantern, clearly waiting for their admiration.
Behind Quinn lounged the Dragon-Qilin, fat as a pig, half-asleep and uninterested in the chaos.
"Quinn, how did you end up here?"
Granny Sue hurried over, fussing over Quinn, checking him up and down. "You dare barge into such a dangerous place? You're too bold—are you hurt?"
"Granny, keep your distance from him."
Grandpa Blind stepped forward, nervous. "Granny Sue can't hold back the demon-seed in her Dao-heart much longer—sometimes she's a man, sometimes a woman. Tyson Li could seize control at any moment. Be careful, she might attack you!"
From Granny Sue's mouth came an old, demonic voice: "Don't worry, he's our Holy Cult's current Cult Master. As the former Cult Master, I wouldn't harm him."
Suddenly, Granny Sue's voice snapped back to female: "Tyson Li, get back in my Dao-heart!"
Crippled Joe stepped forward, eyeing the eight-armed, lantern-like Demon King. "Quinn, your iron lump is actually useful. What's his name again?"
Grandpa Mark answered, "Nethervault Demon King."
Butcher came over, studying the iron idol. "Where'd you get it? Last time I saw you, you didn't have this thing. It's pretty handy."
"Hideous," Deaf said bluntly.
The Demon King bristled, about to erupt, but Quinn quickly interjected, "This is the Nethervault Demon King, supreme ruler of the Nethervault World. I invited him to rescue you. He's a master of divine bans—he'll see us through any danger."
The Demon King preened. "Now that's how you talk, kid. Sure, you're a bit ruthless, a bit poisonous, and a bit scheming..."
"Where's Village Chief?"
Quinn asked, "What about Grandpa Apothecary and the Mute Smith? Did they make it here too?"
Grandpa Blind shook his head. "My eyesight's good—I tracked clues left by Grandpa Apothecary and Village Chief to get here, but I haven't seen the Mute Smith or Grandpa Apothecary."
The others nodded silently.
Granny Sue said, "Grandpa Apothecary and Village Chief should be safe together, with the Patriarch and the Enforcer Elder along. But we haven't seen the Mute Smith—he always acts alone and never tells us his plans. On his own, he might struggle. Quinn, it's tough for you to come looking for us in such danger."
Quinn snapped, "You all refuse to come home for New Year, wandering off until you get lost—of course I had to come find you! Demon King, lead the way. And you all, stop running around!"
"Mm-hmm." A whole group of old men and women nodded hurriedly.