The brilliant white light nearly blurred the vision of those looking. Moreover, there was tremendous suction attacking constantly from all directions until innards churned. These sensations mixed together for about one minute before Bai Fanxian felt relief and wind striking her face.
The young woman opened her eyes swiftly. The first thing she did was explode her Heaven Sense outward. And that made her discover—
She was in the sky!
Bai Fanxian circulated her qi once around. Her body stopped motionless in midair immediately. Her gaze swept both sides to consider where she currently was.
The environment surrounding her now was numerous steep mountain valleys. Below was dense jungle where she sensed scattered signs of life.
But southward from the forest about two kilometers, she could perceive a number of living beings gathering together.
Their number was approximately over five hundred people.
Importantly, she could sense killing intent clashing unyieldingly, as if that area was a battlefield about to erupt in conflict.
Bai Fanxian slowly flew forward. Along the way she tried observing things around her.
The life force levels she sensed weren't very exalted.
On that battlefield, the most powerful figures were only around late-stage Martial Master level.
Whoosh!
Bai Fanxian took little time before appearing above in the sky about one hundred meters up. She concealed herself while making no sound. So unless observed carefully, no one could find her.
"..."
Bai Fanxian narrowed her eyes seeing the situation below. It was fighting as she'd thought. Both sides brought forces of over two hundred people each, facing off tensely. It didn't seem like war but rather a clash between two ordinary forces.
But what interested her most was their shapes—those about to fight resembled humans yet weren't ordinary humans.
Their external appearance was like humans in every aspect. Standing on two legs. Vertebrae upright. Even wearing clothes. But what caught her eye was...
They had cat and dog ears standing up on their heads!
And if you looked closely, you'd see fluffy tails hidden behind at their rear ends.
Bai Fanxian stiffened.
Could this be the animal ear cosplay she'd seen on the internet?
No—from her observation, those were real!
They were wiggling. Some drooped backward. Especially when they made threatening gestures at each other, it reminded her of those dog-cat fighting videos online.
What kind of crazy situation was this?
And why was she here alone?
In this vicinity, she couldn't sense even one familiar presence. Did absorption into this dimension scatter them apart?
Bai Fanxian frowned. For others she wasn't very worried. At minimum, their power levels should allow survival in this world from her rough assessment. But for those three children—Hui'er, Tang Yeye, and Meiying—if they fell into danger, she feared problems.
Her Heaven Sense swept out to maximum capacity.
Its range reached ten kilometers!
Bai Fanxian closed her eyes. The wider the Heaven Sense and however much detail needed, the user necessarily paid with higher power and concentration. So normally, even a figure like Bai Fanxian couldn't release Heaven Sense continuously.
This time she used it to search for her followers. So she needed exceptional focus, consuming even more of her energy.
The first two kilometers found no one...
Even increasing to five kilometers, she still sensed no familiar feeling. But she perceived eastward seemed to be a city from numerous people bustling about that area.
Reaching seven kilometers, she found forest again. It was forest neighboring that city. Inside the forest she sensed a village with not many residents.
And nearing her limit, before she'd lose hope, she sensed familiar power currents.
It was Xie Suyao's power signature!
But it was both calm and unmoving, as if the person was unconscious or senseless.
Bai Fanxian opened her eyes. She'd used more concentration than expected. Mental exhaustion surged in. Pure qi began circulating to restore and make her mind clear again.
She looked down below. These two forces seemed not to clash after all. Both sides just threatened and roared. The young woman stopped caring about them. She decided to find Xie Suyao first.
Bai Fanxian's slender form vanished from the sky, heading toward the direction she'd sensed moments ago...
.
.
.
Along the way, Bai Fanxian flew past the city she'd sensed. She was secretly surprised. This city didn't have advanced technology like modern era cities. Referencing from books she'd read, it should be an era without machines yet. People still traveled by cart. But roads were paved with stones well. Buildings and houses still looked orderly and clean.
There were also faint traces of Western civilization she'd seen before.
What everyone in this city had in common was they all had various colored cat ears atop their heads. Bai Fanxian didn't see even one person with dog ears like she'd found earlier.
She didn't care much. When she flew through forest deep enough, she found a village that seemed to have only over a hundred residents.
The difference was they had both cat ears and dog ears living together, helping each other without discrimination.
They built simple houses from wood, yet they were sturdy and durable, looking more unusual than the buildings she'd seen in the cat-ear city—more modern and well-equipped.
No one perceived her arrival. Bai Fanxian descended toward the house at the village's highest point. It separated independently and was fairly spacious. It sat atop a small hill filled with herb beds planted everywhere.
Bai Fanxian walked through those herbs with surprise. They were well cared for. Moreover, her nose caught faint medicinal scent drifting from inside the house.
In a building constructed separately appeared the form of a beautiful young woman lying on a bed. Bai Fanxian didn't need to look closely to know that was definitely Xie Suyao!
Now she was lying unconscious on a clean white bed. Though this room separated from the main house, it was open and well-ventilated. Beside Xie Suyao's bed, she also found liquid medicine not yet finished.
Bai Fanxian just looked and sniffed to distinguish. This was medicine with properties reducing internal trauma while relieving stress for comfortable sleep. It could be said most suitable for Xie Suyao, currently unconscious from traveling through that dimensional gate, to drink.
The young woman felt admiration for whoever prepared this medicine. She sensed signs of a living being busy in that large house, as if he was preparing another type of medicine without noticing her entry.
Her slender finger touched the center of Xie Suyao's forehead. Pure qi flowed into her, stimulating the medicine's effects in her body immediately. Moreover, it organized slight qi turbulence, making the unconscious young woman startle awake.
Xie Suyao was slightly confused. The last image she remembered was when that blinding light occurred—she tried using both hands to grab Hui'er and Tang Yeye as fast as possible. But passing through that turbulent gap, she lost consciousness immediately.
She quickly looked left and right in panic. But the person she found was Elder Sister looking at her calmly.
"El...Elder Sister."
Xie Suyao still didn't understand the situation. But remembering, she quickly asked Bai Fanxian in alarm.
"The children? Are the children safe, Elder Sister!?"
Xie Suyao panicked not seeing others' forms in the room. She exploded Heaven Sense out twenty meters but still didn't find familiar presences.
At this moment, the person in the house seemed to hear her voice. So he was walking down slowly.
"...You're the first I found." Bai Fanxian shook her head faintly. Her words made the young woman's face turn deathly pale.
"...I'm sorry."
Bai Fanxian knew Xie Suyao was blaming herself. At that moment, she was closest to everyone and should have been able to protect the children.
But she let them slip away!
"It's not your fault. In that gap, it was full of turbulence. Even my Intent left instantly on those children's bodies was separated..."
Bai Fanxian gently stroked Xie Suyao's head. She didn't want her blaming herself excessively.
"Does that mean Elder Sister knows where the children are?"
The young woman began hoping. To compensate for the mistake, she almost wanted to fly retrieve those children herself.
"I can only sense they're still alive... but the distance is too far. At minimum, I must approach within my Heaven Sense range to confirm their location."
Bai Fanxian's answer made Xie Suyao sad again. But before they could continue conversing, outside the door the house's owner appeared walking in.
"Didn't think you'd wake this early?"
The voice that sounded was an ordinary middle-aged man's voice. When Bai Fanxian turned to look, she felt slightly surprised.
"Oh? Then who's this young lady?"
Because who appeared before her was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. His beard grew scattered as if he didn't care for himself much. His long black hair was simply tied behind. But most striking was this man wearing a clean white medical gown, and at his mouth dangling something resembling a cigarette!
It wasn't real cigarettes. Bai Fanxian sniffed once and analyzed many herbs mixed together, making it aromatic while slightly promoting the smoker's health.
Really understood the concept.
But most important—this man had no animal ears on his head!
He was an ordinary human like them.
"Thank you for saving me..."
Xie Suyao, beginning to understand the situation more, could guess she was imposing in this man's house. So naturally she behaved politely and considerately.
"No problem. I saw you fall around that hill when collecting herbs..." That man waved casually. He pointed toward the hill behind this house a bit further.
The strange-looking middle-aged man dragged in two more chairs, handing one to Bai Fanxian. The other he took to sit beside the bed and check Xie Suyao's condition a bit.
"Recovered?"
He looked at her body unbelievingly.
"Why so fast?" He said while scratching his head confusedly, before lighting another roll of his herbal cigarette.
"I'm fine now. Thank you again."
Xie Suyao got up from bed agilely. She wanted to help search for others quickly, so wasn't ready to waste time here.
"...You needn't rush. We need to understand the situation better first."
Instead it was Bai Fanxian speaking calmly. She turned to look at that man—the first human she'd found in this dimension.
And as if he realized, he sighed lightly then asked back.
"Seems this young lady went and saw already?"
"...This isn't the dimension we were in. The population here will have characteristics resembling beast-humans. Mostly external appearance will be like us, but they'll have ears and tails growing out."
He explained calmly.
"Humans like us are nearly impossible to find. At least throughout the many years I've fallen into here, I've never met anyone else besides you all." The middle-aged man laughed lightly as if discussing ordinary weather.
Xie Suyao was shocked and made a disbelieving face. But Bai Fanxian nodded confirming what he said. Throughout her journey here, she truly hadn't seen even one ordinary human.
And the man before her was the first. So he should have some information about where they were.
"Wait... could you be?"
Xie Suyao seemed to catch something from the earlier statement.
"Haven't introduced myself yet...?"
The middle-aged man sent them an easy smile. He laughed as if sitting relaxed in a backyard garden—when in truth he sat outside their world!
"My name is Wu Jia... pleased to meet you."