231: Boundary Cloud

"What's wrong, Chen Du?"

Peng Fei, who sensed Chen Du's heart rate suddenly quicken, asked.

"Nothing..."

Chen Du replied with a single soft word. Peng Fei's words pulled his thoughts back. This was the real world, not the Crystal Space!

It was also at this moment that Chen Du noticed that the Pale Dense Fog here seemed different from the one in the Crystal Space.

The Pale Dense Fog in the Crystal Space was, in the true sense of the word, mist, just a bit thicker.

Combined with the fact that it completely blocked Mental Energy perception, it was impossible to know the extent of the mist, giving it a mysterious aura.

That's why Chen Du called the mist in the Crystal Space the Pale Dense Fog.

And the Pale Dense Fog here, at first glance, looked the same as the one in the Crystal Space, but a closer look revealed a difference.

The mist here didn't move at all; it lacked any of the characteristics of mist, such as movement or surging, as if it were a solid.

"This... where is this?"

Chen Du pondered for a long time, unable to think of a specific word, as the Crystal Space was named by him.

"This is the Cold Sand Crystal Land, which is the Tier 2 Spiritual Realm for your competition."

Peng Fei said indifferently.

Seemingly guessing the confusion in Chen Du's mind, he continued:

"The map for your competition is only a part of the Cold Sand Crystal Land; it's an area we've artificially cordoned off."

"Including the scenery in the sky, it's all projections, actually."

"But you don't need to overthink it; there's no special intention behind it."

"It's just to better distinguish between the inside and outside of the competition venue."

"The sky and boundary you see now are the original appearance of the Cold Sand Crystal Land."

Peng Fei paused here, pointing to the boundary they were about to reach, and continued:

"That is the 'boundary cloud.'"

"boundary cloud?"

Chen Du murmured, a little thoughtful. Clouds and mist were already two very similar things in appearance.

This boundary cloud was probably the Pale Dense Fog he spoke of!

"Yes."

"Don't let the word 'cloud' in its name fool you; it's actually a solid."

"No wonder I saw these boundary clouds not moving at all."

Chen Du replied, and at the same time thought of a question.

"Teacher Peng, are all Spiritual Realms like this?"

Based on Peng Fei's words, Chen Du immediately thought of the first Spiritual Realm he had been to, the Forest of Wolves.

However, at that time, the teleportation array to exit was not at the boundary.

Chen Du didn't know if that time was also like today, in an artificial venue.

"All the same."

"All Spiritual Realms are enveloped by boundary clouds."

Peng Fei had watched Chen Du's Hundred Cities Championship live broadcast in the Seventh Ecological Circle and knew what the other party wanted to ask:

"It's just that the teleportation array in the Forest of Wolves was set up inside the competition venue, so you didn't know what it looked like outside."

"The main reason for doing this is that the Forest of Wolves is a Tier 1 Spiritual Realm, and the students participating in the competition are not yet Martial Artists."

"So, we wouldn't let you see this scene, which is why the teleportation array was set up within the scene."

Chen Du nodded thoughtfully.

He thought to himself.

Could the Crystal Space also be a Spiritual Realm?

According to the knowledge he currently possessed, Chen Du only knew that Spiritual Realms were divided into five tiers.

Tier 1 was the lowest, and Tier 5 was the highest.

As for other information, it was not publicly available, even though Chen Du now had an S-rank contract, he didn't know.

The smart wristbands of the High Martial Civilization would grant different levels of access to information based on your current strength or position.

For example, you couldn't search for information about Mystic Treasures during the Quasi-Warrior stage, but you could during the Martial Artist stage.

Everyone had therefore developed a habit: if the wristband's search results showed the words "Temporarily Unknown," it meant that there was an answer or part of an answer, but your current strength was not yet sufficient to know it.

Of course, it was also possible that only a portion of the answer could be made public to you.

Before the competition, Chen Du had also looked up some things about Spiritual Realms, but unfortunately, just like before, he only knew that Spiritual Realms were divided into five tiers.

Along the way, Chen Du looked down, and because the Bone-Gilded Toads generally stayed beneath the yellow sand, he mostly saw Ice Blast Bears.

Ice Blast Bears had extremely volatile tempers; they would fight to the death whenever they had an emotion, hence their name.

Their numbers weren't very large, mainly due to their self-destructive nature; few Ice Blast Bears would play together.

After a while, the four arrived at the teleportation array at the boundary exit.

A third-year student politely registered the six of them.

Chen Du, like a curious baby, stared at the boundary cloud in front of him, which resembled a plaster statue.

At close range, Chen Du had a strong feeling.

This so-called boundary cloud was the Pale Dense Fog in the Crystal Space!

The only difference was that the one in the Crystal Space was real mist, and Chen Du had entered it more than once.

He didn't know how wide it was inside, and Mental Energy perception couldn't be used there.

But Chen Du guessed that the range of this Pale Dense Fog was not boundless, and might not even be very large.

Because as he advanced through the Pale Dense Fog, he would encounter monsters that were about to emerge.

After Chen Du entered the Crystal Space, the monsters would start walking out from within the Pale Dense Fog.

Each time, they would step out of the boundary cloud and appear before Chen Du at the 30-second mark.

Because they didn't walk very fast, theoretically, the distance covered in 30 seconds wasn't far.

This was also why Chen Du inferred that the range of the Pale Dense Fog wouldn't be very large.

But due to the loss of visibility and Mental Energy perception, Chen Du couldn't possibly avoid the encirclement of 30 monsters by relying solely on sound to pinpoint their locations.

These monsters, however, did not have this restriction; the Pale Dense Fog had no effect on them.

However, Chen Du couldn't be 100% certain that there wasn't something else behind these monsters.

Perhaps there was still a large expanse of vision-obscuring Pale Dense Fog.

To verify this, one would have to clear a certain number of waves. According to the rules of the Crystal Space, after surviving the 15th wave, the next would start from the 16th wave.

If he wanted to verify what was truly behind these monsters, he would need the strength to pass 15 waves, but he hadn't yet.

This way, with relatively powerful strength, he could rush into the Pale Dense Fog and engage with the monsters of the 11th wave, and annihilate them.

Previously, for various reasons, he couldn't stop, but now at this stage, with nothing chasing him, he could give it a try.

Although Chen Du suspected that the Crystal Space was also a Spiritual Realm, there was one significant difference: the monsters in the Crystal Space were definitely not real.

They belonged to the type of monsters that could be continuously refreshed in a game, whereas the monsters in a Spiritual Realm were flesh-and-blood and truly existed.

"Teacher Peng, what's behind the boundary cloud?"

The boundary cloud and the Pale Dense Fog must have some connection; perhaps their backs held the same answer.

Chen Du asked tentatively.

Peng Fei didn't answer immediately but looked at Xu Tian, seemingly seeking permission to answer the question.

Xu Tian nodded and personally spoke:

"Chen Du, this question may never have an answer!"

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