The edge of the Demon Realm, unknown territory.
Zhang Xiaoman tracked Ni Yang’s trail, continuing in the same direction, and more than half a month had passed in a flash.
Now the situation is that no planets can be seen nearby at all, even the ubiquitous black tide of the Demon Clan has disappeared, leaving only a solitary void wherever Zhang Xiaoman’s gaze reaches.
"Where exactly is Ni Yang going? Why has he come running here?"
Zhang Xiaoman’s biggest confusion now is why the other party is doing this, and is running forward at all costs.
He can see that the wound Ni Yang currently suffers from is likely not mild, and it seems the injury is worsening, as Ni Yang’s speed has begun to noticeably decrease.
But even so, Ni Yang still hasn’t stopped, continuing to fly forward, as if something there is attracting him.
"There’s almost no sign of the Demon Clan here; could it be that I’ve already crossed beyond the Demon Realm to a farther outside place?"
Zhang Xiaoman doesn’t know where he has reached, but after flying day and night for over a year, it is indeed possible that he has crossed the Demon Realm.
"Crossed the Demon Realm? What’s beyond the Demon Realm? Could it possibly be the legendary Chaotic Space?"
He pondered over this in his mind, given the absence of the Demon Clan nearby. He feels it’s truly possible, just as he guessed, that he’s arrived at the Chaotic Domain outside the Demon Realm.
The so-called Chaotic Domain has always been a legend, said to be the end of this universe, but this legend has never been verified by anyone, or even if a few know of it, it’s still an unknowable secret to the vast majority of people.
Only because those who are able to traverse the entire Demon Realm are extremely few, requiring at least the strength of the Middle Extraordinary Level.
Moreover, even if they have achieved the Middle Extraordinary Level, it doesn’t mean they dare to traverse the Demon Realm, as this is the territory of the Demon Clan, and coming here could very likely offend that existing presence.
Even if the Chaotic Space is really discovered, there might not be anything good there; in a situation where the effort doesn’t pay off, naturally no one is willing to come.
Following Ni Yang this time, Zhang Xiaoman crossed the entire Demon Realm, and now the surrounding void has begun to change color, turning from pitch black to pale purple.
He keenly senses that the space-time here seems to have also started twisting, giving people a faint sense of discomfort.
"The flow rate of time has changed... this feeling is very familiar, very similar to the edge area of the Original Realm... but the degree of space-time distortion is much more intense than the Original Realm... this really is the Chaotic Domain!"
Zhang Xiaoman suddenly awoke.
Ordinary people might not sense it, but for beings at his level, the sensitivity to space-time changes is very high, allowing him to easily feel the variations.
Moreover, as the master of the Original Realm, Zhang Xiaoman naturally knows what the edge of a world looks like.
Possibly due to the Boundary Value, the degree of space-time distortion at the Original Realm’s edge is not high; compared to the Second Universe, it’s like a smaller witch compared to a great witch.
As he continued deeper, the surrounding purple grew more and more intense, ultimately becoming a deep purple that couldn’t be dissolved.
By this point, even an ordinary Dark Spirit could detect the intense fluctuations of space-time.
Zhang Xiaoman wanted to leave because space-time distortion waves are unpredictable, generally without any rules; perhaps time in this area is accelerated very rapidly, but it might soon slow down in the next area.
"That guy Ni Yang..."
He felt conflicted inside, unsure whether he should continue pursuing.
If he keeps chasing, he might indeed find Ni Yang, but if he encounters an area where time flows very slowly, and ends up flying in it for an hour, then returns to find that decades or hundreds of years have passed on Water Blue Star, it would be an utter disaster.
Zhang Xiaoman halted his steps, leaving a Star Alliance Marker at the original place, and temporarily returned to the Original Realm.
This matter must be treated with caution.
After waiting in the Original Realm for a while and calculating the time, he returned to where he placed the Star Alliance Marker earlier; luckily, the space-time distortion in that area wasn’t severe, its time flow almost matching the external world.
"Ni Yang is injured, and his speed is gradually decreasing. If things go as previously, I should be able to catch up to him soon..."
"But now, he has entered the Chaotic Domain, where the flow of time is very unstable. This would greatly affect my actions; if the time flow in the area he’s in is particularly slow, by the time I catch up with him, he might have already run far away, or something else might have occurred, making things unfavorable for me..."
Zhang Xiaoman pondered for a while, deciding he needed to come up with a plan to deal with the chaotic space-time disturbance in the Chaotic Domain.
In fact, regarding the fast and slow passage of time, he isn’t entirely without solutions; the simplest method is to use Fingertip Quicksand and The Ever-Changing Seas and Fields to advance within a time gap, so that the chaotic space-time distortion of the outside Chaotic Domain won’t affect him.
But the biggest difficulty with doing this is that Zhang Xiaoman can’t maintain progress within the time gap indefinitely.
Because this skill consumes an enormous amount of Spiritual Power, even with Zhang Xiaoman’s current strength, it wouldn’t be possible to stay in that state continually, especially as he doesn’t know how far Ni Yang is or how long it will take to catch up, meaning success requires finding another way.