Chapter 240: Visitors from the Heavens

Ye Feng stood tall in the void. The planet that had been the size of Earth dozens of times beneath his feet turned into mere dust in an instant. Another Death Substitute was destroyed without any suspense.
If it weren’t for the Death Substitutes, Ye Feng would have died twice already at Dil’s hands. This made him realize that if he remained careless, his chances of being killed were still very high. Even though this was just the cultivation realm, he still possessed the strength of a Spirit Immortal.
Dil truly deserved to be called a veteran who had spent years in hell—he had various methods to deal with those stronger than him. Moreover, as a top trader in hell, he indeed had a vast fortune, including all sorts of strange and exotic items, whose collection was likely no less impressive than what Ye Feng had now.
Ye Feng knew Dil wasn’t dead. That was the terrifying aspect of the Death Substitutes: once bound, they could transfer all harm, even the damage from self-destructing one’s Yuan Ying.
However, the powerful shockwave from the self-destruction completely erased the mark on his ring, and Dil had long since vanished without a trace. Ye Feng also knew it would be difficult to find him again. Now that Dil knew of his strength and his intention to kill him, he probably wouldn’t appear in front of him so easily.
“He got away like this…” Ye Feng scanned the surroundings but found no traces to follow, shaking his head helplessly. Dil’s interstellar teleportation could cover a distance of over twenty planets, so it was unclear how far he had already gone.
Just as Ye Feng was about to leave, a strong spatial disturbance arose, making him stop and look in that direction.
Ripples spread through the void not far away. As the ripples expanded, a golden gate gradually took shape from nothingness. The gate was nearly ten meters tall, entirely golden, with reliefs carved on it depicting all kinds of rare and exotic beasts that Ye Feng had never seen before.
Ye Feng stared at the scene in shock, completely confused about what was happening.
Hiding his figure behind a floating asteroid, he quietly poked his head out and looked at the gate.
As expected, the gate slowly opened with a deep and resonant sound. Inside, there stood two men and a woman. Their attire wasn’t much different from that on Earth.

The three of them stepped out through that gate and walked on empty space, as the gate behind them dissipated into specks of white light.
Ye Feng frowned deeply. He could clearly sense the pressure exerted on him by these three, especially by the thin yet sturdy man at the forefront who seemed to be around his own age. That aura was so oppressive it felt like it could suffocate him. He tensed his muscles even more, hiding tightly behind the meteorite, not daring to move an inch. “Who exactly are these guys?”
“Captain, what exactly is this emergency mission? You didn’t say anything and just dragged us to the Cultivation Realm. We don’t even know why we’re here!” asked the young woman in a short-sleeved shirt behind the young man.
“Don’t you feel it?” The young man remained cold, not even turning his head, as he glared in the direction where the planet had disappeared.
“Yanzi, there’s a very strong energy fluctuation here, and it’s explosive in nature,” said the honest-looking man in his thirties, also looking in that direction.
“Shitou, of course I feel the energy fluctuation here. Don’t forget that I’m better at sensing energy than the captain,” replied Yanzi, clearly annoyed. “I’m just asking why we’re here!”
“The intensity of this energy is comparable to the power of a Lingxian at the initial stage self-destructing, or the result of at least two experts at the late True Immortal stage or even the early Heavenly Immortal stage fighting each other at full strength. This energy must have been generated about three minutes ago,” added the young woman, clearly very skilled in this field.
“Then you should know why we’re here!” The young man at the forefront slowly turned to look at the two behind him.
“You mean someone is still trapped in this realm?” The young woman finally realized.
“It could also be fugitives from the Heavenly Realm!” added the man called Shitou. “Either way, it’s our job!”
“Don’t such things happen all the time? It’s no big deal, right? If I was brought down just for this, I’d rather go back and keep playing cards.” Yanzi was clearly upset.
“There’s a star here that’s been completely destroyed. We must find the culprit!” The lead captain remained expressionless.

“If it was a self-destruct, his body should be scattered in every corner of this area. Besides, some of the debris might already have entered our lungs through our nostrils,” the young woman said irritably. “Oh, by the way, the guy behind that rock—you’ve been eavesdropping for so long. Aren’t you going to come out and say hello?”
Ye Feng was stunned upon hearing this. He had finally been discovered. Helplessly, he stepped out from behind the meteorite. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just happened to pass by, saw that gate, so I hid here to see what would happen…”
“Happened to pass by?” Yan Zi clearly didn’t believe Ye Feng’s words. “Could you come up with a worse excuse?”
“Uh…” Ye Feng thought to himself that things were bad. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to get away with this lie this time.
“What did you see?” The young captain didn’t pursue that question but asked another one instead.
“A big explosion,” Ye Feng replied with a helpless expression. “I was collecting herbs on a nearby planet when I saw the big explosion over here. After the explosion, I teleported here to see what had happened. Then you guys showed up!”
“A big explosion? What kind of one?” The young captain pressed further.
“I heard you mention a collision and a self-destruct earlier. But in my opinion, it was a self-destruct, because the explosion started at one point and then shot upward. It wasn’t the kind of explosion caused by a collision,” Ye Feng explained.
“Other than that, did you see anything else?”
“No! I searched everywhere, not even a piece of armor!” Ye Feng shook his head. This time he was telling the truth—he had indeed searched the surroundings and found no useful information.
“Okay, thank you for your help. Leave this place. It’s not safe,” the captain nodded at Ye Feng, ready to let him go.
Ye Feng immediately teleported away. Of course, he couldn’t use his teleportation ability in front of these people—it would undoubtedly arouse their suspicion.
“Just letting him go like that?” Yan Zi complained after Ye Feng left. “If we had kept him, we could have gotten a lot of information out of him through interrogation!”

“He’s only in the later stage of the Tribulation Phase. Although he’s considered strong in this realm, he couldn’t have been at the scene when the explosion occurred; otherwise, he wouldn’t have appeared before us unharmed. The self-explosion of a Spirit Immortal-level warrior isn’t something to be taken lightly. With your and Shi Lei’s cultivation at the later stage of Heavenly Immortal, you might still get injured from such an explosion. If he had been within the explosion range, he definitely wouldn’t have survived, let alone appeared neatly dressed with no signs of injury,” explained the young captain.

“I just find him suspicious. Why was he exactly here? Could it really be a coincidence?” Yan Zi still shook her head, doubting Ye Feng’s words.

“We don’t need to worry about why he’s here. Anyway, he can’t possibly be the reason behind that Spirit Immortal-level warrior’s self-explosion. A Spirit Immortal can kill a large number of cultivators in the Tribulation Phase with just one slap.” Shi Lei finally spoke up. “Our task is simple: investigate this matter thoroughly and then return to the Heavenly Realm!”

The young captain remained silent for a moment, lost in thought, before saying to the two of them, “I’ll leave this task to you two!”

“Captain? What do you mean?” Yan Zi asked, puzzled.

“I have some other matters to attend to first. We’ll meet here in ten days!” A hint of sadness flashed in the young man’s eyes.

“Other matters?” Shi Lei looked at his captain, confused.

Yan Zi seemed to realize something. “I get it. You took on this task just to come down to the cultivation realm! Only by taking on a task here can you get a temporary pass to enter. So once you heard there was a task in the cultivation realm, you rushed to take it and tricked us into coming along.”

The young captain didn’t refute her but simply looked at her quietly.

“Are you still holding onto that matter?” Shi Lei finally understood what was going on. “All these years, to find him, you’ve risked entering the Demon Realm, the Fiend Realm, the Buddha Realm, and even the Hell and Heaven in the auxiliary spaces. Aren’t you giving up?”

“I want an answer! I want to know why the man who gave me the name Lin Han abandoned us, why he disappeared without a word, and why he’s wanted by the Heavenly Realm… I want to hear him explain everything in person!” The young captain’s gaze was firm.

“Captain, we can only stay in the cultivation world for ten days. Once that time is up, we must return, otherwise we’ll be wanted as fugitives. Whether we can find him or not, we have to leave within ten days!” Shi Lei shook his head helplessly.
“Although I don’t agree with your approach, there’s one thing you must remember: once ten days pass, you must leave with us. Next time, we might be able to apply for another mission here to keep searching. Don’t insist on staying!” Yan Zi had no choice but to agree. “For this mission, Shi Lei and I will investigate, while you focus on gathering information about him!”
“Thank you!” Lin Han glanced gratefully at his two trusted subordinates before vanishing from the spot.
“If we can’t even find him in the cultivation world, he should give up completely, right?” Shi Lei sighed helplessly.
“Maybe he’ll try to go to the human world planets…” Yan Zi rolled her eyes.