Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 233

Chapter 233: THE ARCHIVES
With considerable willpower, they managed to finish dressing without further distractions—though not without several lingering glances and “accidental” brushes of hands against linen-covered skin. Li Hua arranged her robes with practiced efficiency, grateful that the enhanced fabric resisted wrinkles despite having been rather unceremoniously discarded a few days ago. After a final adjustment to her sleeves, she followed Mo Xing through the doorway and into the grand hall beyond.

The hall stretched before them, its dimensions seeming to shift subtly with each step they took. Columns carved with arrays rose to support a ceiling that appeared both solid stone and somehow translucent, offering glimpses of patterns beyond. At the far end, the swirling portal that had caught Li Hua’s attention upon their arrival continued its hypnotic rotation, its surface rippling with colors that shouldn’t exist in the visible spectrum.

Near this portal lay the nine-tailed fox, its pristine white fur luminous against the dark stone floor. The fox had curled its nine tails around its body like an elaborate fan, creating a nest of blue-tipped flame that didn’t seem to burn the stone beneath. As they approached, its elegant head lifted, intelligent eyes opening to study them with ancient knowledge and unmistakable amusement.

“The honored guests have finally emerge,” the fox observed, its melodious voice carrying through the hall without seeming to disturb the sacred silence. Its head tilted slightly as it studied them, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Why do you both look simultaneously refreshed yet exhausted? The shrine’s spiritual energy is potent, but rarely produces such… interesting effects.”

Li Hua felt heat rising to her cheeks again—her newfound seventh-rank cultivation apparently insufficient to control the physiological response to the fox’s knowing implication. The creature’s gaze seemed to penetrate beyond their perfectly arranged clothing to the spiritual resonance between them, now permanently altered by their week of reunion.

Mo Xing merely smiled, the expression containing equal parts dignity and unrepentant satisfaction. “The shrine’s accommodations proved exceptionally conducive to spiritual reconnection,” he replied with diplomatic precision. “We found ourselves engaged in intensive… meditation practices.”

One of the fox’s tails flicked in apparent amusement. “Indeed. The shrine records indicate no such intensive ‘meditation’ has occurred within these walls since four thousand years ago.”

Li Hua cleared her throat, deciding a change of subject was urgently required. “You mentioned archives containing knowledge of other worlds. We would like to examine them now, if possible.”

The fox rose to its feet in one fluid motion, nine tails fanning behind it with hypnotic grace. “Of course. The ancient records await through the Portal.” It gestured toward a previously unnoticed doorway that seemed to materialize from the solid wall as attention was drawn to it. “Though I must offer the traditional warning: knowledge of other worlds can be… destabilizing to conventional understanding. Are you certain your cultivation bases are prepared?”

Mo Xing’s hand found Li Hua’s, fingers intertwining with casual intimacy. “We are perhaps uniquely qualified to comprehend such knowledge,” he replied.

The fox’s tails swayed thoughtfully as it studied their joined hands, something ancient and knowing flickering in its eyes. “Indeed,” it murmured, more to itself than to them. “Perhaps you are at that.”

Mo Xing and Li Hua bowed respectfully to the nine-tailed fox and then walked toward the ornate archway that had materialized in the shrine’s wall. As they approached, cultivation arrays inscribed around the doorframe pulsed with ancient power, recognizing and authenticating their spiritual signatures before allowing passage.

Once inside, Li Hua gasped softly in amazement. The archive room defied all conventional understanding of spatial dimensions—impossibly larger than the shrine itself could possibly contain. Circular in design, the chamber rose in a perfect cylinder, its ceiling so distant it faded into misty luminescence above them. Jade shelves of flawless quality wrapped around the walls in concentric rings, ascending without interruption despite the lack of any visible stairs or platforms.

Most astonishing were the countless texts that populated this repository—not merely resting on shelves but existing in dynamic arrangement. Scrolls bound with essence enhanced silk drifted through the air in deliberate patterns, occasionally unfurling briefly as if checking their contents before resealing themselves.

Jade memory slips hovered in complex geometric formations, their soft green luminescence combining to create three-dimensional cultivation arrays that rotated slowly in the chamber’s center. Ancient books bound in materials Li Hua couldn’t immediately identify aligned and realigned themselves on the shelves, responding to some organizational logic beyond ordinary understanding.

The air itself felt charged with knowledge—not merely spiritual energy but information in its purest form, preserved through methods that transcended conventional array techniques.

In the center of the chamber stood a massive circular table carved from a single piece of translucent jade, its surface inlaid with meridian-like channels that pulsed with subtle energy.

Above it hovered what at first glance resembled a holographic projection—a three-dimensional map of swirling light and color that depicted what appeared to be multiple overlapping worlds. Li Hua recognized the resemblance to the holographic displays from her previous life, though she understood this was something far more profound—pure spiritual essence manipulated with such precision that it created perfect visual representations of metaphysical realities.

The map shifted continuously, certain realms brightening while others dimmed, connection points between dimensions appearing and disappearing as if reflecting real-time changes in the cosmic structure of existence itself.

Li Hua gently released Mo Xing’s hand and walked toward the dimensional map, drawn by both curiosity and awe.

She circled the massive jade table slowly, senses extended to their fullest as she absorbed the complexity of what she witnessed. The visualization represented not just physical locations but dimensional frequencies—layers of existence occupying the same realm but vibrating at different resonances. Some realms appeared stable and solid, while others flickered in and out of the display, their boundaries indistinct or permeable.

“This is a dimensional location array,” Mo Xing explained as he walked to her side, his golden eyes reflecting the swirling lights. “It maps pathways between different realms and perhaps even other worlds.”

“You recognize this?” Li Hua asked, surprised by his familiarity with such an advanced formation.

Mo Xing nodded. “The basic principles aren’t complicated—standard location mapping—but this particular array tracks hundreds of locations simultaneously. Without the corresponding scroll key, we can’t fully interpret what we’re seeing.”

Li Hua studied the shifting patterns more carefully. “Who would have created something this advanced? It far exceeds current understanding.”

“I believe it predates our current world’s structure,” Mo Xing replied thoughtfully. “According to ancient texts I’ve studied, this cultivation world wasn’t always divided into the Five Major Realms we know today. Originally, it contained only three primary realms—Heaven, Human, and Underworld.”

“Like our original world?” Li Hua asked, a sudden flash of recognition illuminating her features. “Heaven realm, Human realm, and the Underworld—the same structure as the world we came from?”

Mo Xing nodded, his golden eyes holding hers with quiet significance. “The parallels are too precise to be coincidental. I believe this world may have been patterned after our original world.”

“Then what could have caused such a fundamental restructuring?” Li Hua asked, her mind immediately grasping the implications.

Mo Xing shook his head. “I don’t have a definitive answer. That knowledge may have been deliberately obscured or lost during the transition.”